UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNJA 
LOS  ANGELES 


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CESARE  BORGIA 

ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 

THE  TOY  CART 


BT  THE  SAME  WRITER 

Poems  {Collected  Edition  in  Two  Volumes).     1902. 

An    Introduction   to   the  Study   of  Browtnting.     1886. 

1906. 
Aubrey  Beardsley.     1898.     1905. 
The  Symboust  Movement  in  Literature,     1899. 
Pl.'VYS,  Acting,  and  Music.     1903. 
Cities.     1903. 

Studies  in  Prose  .\nt)  Verse.     1904. 
Spiritu.Uj  Adventures.     1905. 

The  Fool  of  the  World  .\nd  Other  Poems.     1906. 
Studies  in  Seven  Arts.     1906. 
William  Blake.     1907. 
Cities  of  Italy.     1907. 

The  Romantic  Movement  in  English  Poetry.    1909. 
Knave  of  Hearts.     1913. 
Figures  of  Sever.\l  Centuries.     1916. 
Tragedies.     1916. 
Tristan  and  Iseult.    1917. 
Cities  and  Sea  Coasts  and  Islands.     1918. 


CESARE  BORGIA 

ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 

THE  TOY  CART 


BY 

ARTHUR  SYMONS 


NEW  YORK 

BRENTANO'S 

1920 


Copyright,  1930 
Bbentano's 


TUE-PLIMPTON-PBF-SS 
NOBWOOD-UASS  -U'S'A 


^?? 


TO 
ROBIN  DE  LA  CONDAMINE 


488445 

LIBRARY 


CONTENTS 

Cesare  Borgia 3 

IsEULT  OF  Brittany 75 

The  Toy  Cart 91 


CESARE  BORGIA 

A  TRAGEDY  IN  ONE  ACT 

By  ARTHUR  SYMONS 


THE  PERSONS 

CESARE  BORGIA,  Cardinal  of  Valencia 
SANCiA,  Princess  of  Aragon 
MiCHELOTTO,  Cesare's  Servant 
LUCREZiA  BORGIA,  the  Popc's  Daughter 
GIOVANNI  BORGIA,  DuJcc  of  Sandia 

POPE   ALEXANDER   VI 

ASSASSINS 

VANTsrozzA  CATANEi,  the  Popc's  Mistress 

IMPERIA 

SCENE:  Rome,  June,  14-97. 


CESARE   BORGIA 

SCENE  ONE 

A  Room  of  CESARE  in  the  Vatican 
Enter  cesare  and  sancia 

SANCIA 

Why  is  our  flesh  more  cruel  than  man's  love? 

CESARE 

There  is  no  love  that  can  outmeasure  love. 

SANCIA 

I  only  know  I  am  a  tortured  thing 
And  none  of  all  the  casuists  of  souls 
Can  set  me  dancing  in  the  naked  air. 

CESARE 

I  am  no  Casuit,  nor  are  my  nerves  tortured 
As  evil  spirits  are. 

SANCIA 

An  e\'il  spirit 

Burns  in  you,  Cesare.     See,  how  it  burns  in  me! 

[3] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 

Hate  not  the  Beast,  that  hiughs  out  of  the  Flesh! 
Why  do  you  touch  your  burumg  web  of  hair? 

SANCIA 

Do  I?     Sheer  nerves,  my  dear!     Rome's  hot  enough 
For  our  blood's  heat  to  be  June's  heat.     I  beat 
My  feet  on  the  floor,  as  if  one  dances. 

CESARE 

Sancia, 

What  is  obscure  and  inevitable  in  ourselves 

Comes  not  from  dancing  nor  from  dreaming:  dreams 

Are  the  mirror  of  our  consciousness;   the  dance 

The  rhythm  of  our  being:  but  our  Fate 

Entangles  us  in  a  net  we  can't  escape  from. 

SANCIA 

This  network  that  knots  my  hair  —  why  subtilise 
Beyond  it? 

CESARE 

To  mock  mine  own  illusions. 

There's  something  monstrous  in  your  kind  of  beauty, 
Yet  Beauty,  when  accursed,  becomes  less  monstrous, 
And  so  more  poisonous. 

SANCIA 

Am  I  a  poison-flower 
Grown  in  a  soil  only  weeds  grew  in  before 
Some  Satan  planted  my  seed? 

[4] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 

Start  not,  Sancia, 

At  the  shadow  the  setting  sun  casts  on  me  —  the  shadow 

Of  a  mere  leaf  in  the  wind. 

SANCIA 

And  if  I  start? 

I  tell  you,  Cesare,  there's  a  wind  in  my  heart 

That  will  not  let  me  rest;   there  are  great  wmgs 

Of  birds  that  beat  against  the  winds;   storms 

Everlasting  and  the  unresting  waters;  loves 

That  are  more  drow^sy  than  the  bees  at  noon 

That  have  trafficked  on  the  heath  and  sucked  the 

heather: 
And  I  am  all  of  these  and  none  of  these. 

CESARE 

Find  out  the  dancing  measures  in  our  blood 
And  we'll  not  blush. 

SANCIA 

If  blushes  do  become  you  — 
Blush. 

CESARE 

I  am  neither  sad  nor  am  I  sorry 
We  thus  have  met.     Sadness  befits  not  love; 
But  since  the  moon  is  far  and  your  strange  face 
No  fairer  than  the  moon's,  let  all  the  winds 
Invade  our  spirits;  but,  when  we  have  drunk  wine, 
Always  the  dregs  remain. 

SANCIA 

Of  all  sad  songs 

This  is  the  saddest  men  ever  sang.     Come  now. 


CESARE   BORGIA 

There  are  no  ghosts  to  go  along  with  us; 
And  you  that  have  so  many  mistresses 
ISIay  tire  of  me  that  am  your  Sancia, 
Your  Sancia  of  the  minute. 

CESARE 

There's  no  jesting-time 

From  this  till  midnight  and  when  midnight's  over 
The  jests  begin:   we  shall  have  some  wondrous  jesting 
When  craft  enters  your  eyes :  you  have  more  craft 
Than  the  street-girls  in  Naples, 

SANCIA 

You  think  of  —  what? 

CESARE 

Of  nothing. 

SANCIA 

Nay,  of  Giovanni. 

CESARE 

And  if  I  choose  to  love  him?    As  one  tries 
To  love  a  thing  one  hates  when  one's  in  bed 
And  so  turns  on  his  pillow  and  forgets 
And,  waking,  might  remember  either  dream. 
You  might  as  well  ask  of  a  burning  flame 
To  turn  aside  from  burning  not  in  love 
The  wood  next  it  on  the  hearth. 

SANCIA 

Do  you  fear  God? 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

I  use  his  name,  I  neither  fear  nor  love 
God,  more  than  mine  own  Sire;   who,  sick  at  heart. 
Fears  God;  and,  with  heart  at  ease  after  our  revels, 
Loves  God.     Our  flesh  must  sleep  to  live.     I  sweep 
Certain  things  to  sideways,  thus! 

He    unsheathes    his    dagger,    turns    his    wrist    and 

pierces  a  hole  in  the  wall. 

SANCIA 

Madness  and  nerves, 

In  these  I  praise  you,  Cesare;  as  for  Lucrezia, 

I  honour  her;  yea,  I  am  honourless. 

And  yet  I  love  Lucrezia. 

CESARE 

One  must  love  her 

In  her  strange  tragic  beauty;  fires  of  Carthage 
Burn  in  her  eyes  and  Matho  makes  her  mad 
Because  she  has  given  him  w^ine,  and  madness  lies 
Wherever  poisoned  love  is  mixed  with  hate. 

SANCIA 

There  may  be  treason  in  you  against  me,  Cesare! 

CESARE 

You  might  think  twice  before  you  think  to  say  it 
And  I  think  thrice  before  I  answer  you. 

SANCIA 

You  cannot  hurt  me  much,  not  much,  Cesare, 
That  burn  two  ways  at  once. 

[7] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 


One  mine  own  way? 


SANCIA 


Perhaps:  but  that's  no  matter.     Let  it  pass 
As  stolen  kisses.     We  are  not  here  for  nothing. 
I  swear  to  you  with  all  body,  Cesare ! 
We  are  watched,  we  are  watched. 


CESARE 

The  Devil  watches  all  things. 

Waking  and  sleeping.     He  outwatches  God 

Whose  heaven  is  not  more  lonely  than  his  hell. 

SANCIA 

Night  for  the  blood  of  animals,  and  the  day 

For  men  to  crush  each  other;   certain  hours 

For  strategy:   then  the  blood-beaten  pulses 

Of  the  world  —  ours,  that  is  —  as  it  reels  into  night, 

Or  staggers  into  day  through  the  red  mists. 

CESARE 

These  shining  wings  of  words  as  gaudy  poppies 
That  flame  at  noon  serve  you. 

SANCIA 

As  for  Giulia, 

I  never  saw  such  hair  in  all  my  life, 

Pure  red  gold  hair  down  to  her  feet  when  she  undoes  it. 

CESARE 

Satan  my  father  knows  what  beauty  is. 

[81 


CESARE  BORGIA 

SANCIA 

So  Giulia,  the  adulteress:  what  else 
In  this  so  moral  Rome? 

CESARE 

Why,  what  else?     Giulia 

Holds  in  her  little  hands  the  spiritual  head 

Of  the  world's  Church. 

SANCIA 

Purple  paid  for  her  shame. 

CESARE 

It  marvels  me 

You  never  loved  Giovanni's  fair  bedfellow  — 

One  sleeps  with  shame  —  Maria  Enriquez. 

SANCIA 

Love  her  or  like  her.     Leave  the  creature  alone. 
Am  I  not  Sancia,  Princess  of  Aragon? 
And  who  is  she?     Some  say  a  household  rat, 
But  I  say  no.     Yet  I  have  a  mind,  I  say, 
To  let  some  honest  creature  such  as  her 
Stumble  into  a  deep  grave. 

CESARE 

Leave  alone  honesty. 

SANCIA 

You  make  me  laugh.     Make  me  a  toy.     Cesare, 
I'm  a  wicked  child  —  such  children  love  strange  toys; 
And  mine  must  be  a  cruel-featured  idol 

[91 


CESARE   BORGIA 

Made  after  Artemis  who  hangs  on  the  horns 
Of  the  Crescent  moon,  mocking  her  own  image 
As  she  swung  in  the  wind  there. 

CESARE 

Satan's  child  you  are  not, 
In  spite  of  what  I  might  be.     Satan  makes 
Strange  mistakes  sometimes;   and  he  gave  me  gifts 
God  never  thought  of. 

SANCIA 

What  gifts  had  he  to  give  you, 
Cesare? 

CESARE 

Mysterious,  merciless,  monstrous  things, 

And  tales  of  those  who  had  played  chess  on  many  nights, 

Waiting  and  waiting  for  the  stroke  of  a  sword. 

SANCIA  \^sloioly^ 

You  mean,  there  may  be  playing  of  chess  to-night. 
Or  next  night,  to  be  decided  by  the  sword? 

CESARE 

Nay,  I  mean  nothing.     When  shall  I  sleep  with  you 
Next.^ 

SANCIA 

When  the  half -moon  shines  over  Rome. 

CESARE 

The  night  after  to-morrow. 

Enter  michelotto 
I  never  sent  for  you. 

[10  1 


CESARE  BORGIA 

MICHELOTTO 

Pardon  me,  my  lord. 

CESARE 

Pardon?     You  mean  you  have  strangled  —  what  do  I 

know? 
Some  lewder  rogue  than  you  are. 

MICHELOTTO 

I  have  not  strangled 
Anyone.     Only  His  Holiness  the  Pope 
Bade  me  say  he  desires  you  come  to  him, 
The  case  being  urgent. 

CESARE 

Urgent?     What  do  you  mean? 

MICHELOTTO 

My  words  have  no  other  meaning. 

CESARE 

Sancia, 

I  leave  you  in  the  care  of  —  Michelotto ! 

Exit  CESARE 
SANCIA 

Your  name's  more  terrible  than  your  reputation. 

MICHELOTTO 

Mere  stricken  sounds  upon  a  hollow  drum 
A  zany  plays  before  a  mountebank. 

fill 


CESARE  BORGIA 

SANCIA 

An  elevated  kind  of  criminal 
That  has  the  knavery  of  evils? 

MICHELOTTO 

Nearer  the  mark. 

SANCIA 

Arc  you  not  Cesare's  damned  soul? 

MICHELOTTO 

For  him  I'd  dare  damnation! 

SANCIA 

I  admire  you. 

I  have  some  hates  that  hang  about  my  throat  — 

No  hates  that  you  have  strangled. 

MICHELOTTO 

I  strangle  no  hates 

But  I  am  paid  to  strangle  hateful  men. 

SANCIA 

Part  of  your  business,  of  this  trade  of  yours, 
And  then  —  assassination ! 

MICHELOTTO 

Assassination !    Princess ! 

SANCIA 

So  did  Acgisthus,  the  hateful,  helping  the  hateful 
Clytemnestra,  in  the  Tale  that's  on  all  tongues. 
A  murder  says  one  —  a  squabble  before  supper. 

fl2l 


CESARE  BORGIA 

MICHELOTTO 

These  were  old  wicked  mountains  in  the  air 

That  had  the  abhorred  conscience  of  some  murder. 

And,  what  am  I  beside  these?     I  exist. 

SANCIA 

"Naked  as  brown  feet  of  unburied  men," 

Someone  said  that;   it  means  that  burial 

May  not  be  needed.     Ah,  you  chafe  at  this ! 

I  speak  of  Cesare;  yea,  even  at  this  time, 

This  most  keen  joint  of  time,  when  there's  confusion 

That  might  turn  to  worse  than  ruin,  even  God's  wrath 

Might  turn  not  back,  spare  nothing:   I  ask  of  you: 

Who  knows  what  Cesare  means  .f^ 


I  know  not. 
You  know  not? 


MICHELOTTO 
SANCTA    [^sloivly'} 

MICHELOTTO 


Nay:  only  the  benediction  that  he  gave  me 
One  night  after  the  wine. 

Re-enter  cesare 

CESARE 

I  caught  one  word.     Enough:  the  Zodiac's  changed! 

Exit  MICHELOTTO 

Does  God  forgive  ever? 

SANCIA 

God  never.     Do  you  forgive? 

[LS] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

Can  I  forgive?     Nay,  in  me  all  my  desires 
Burn  up  each  part  and  parcel  of  my  life 
As  if  my  feet  trod  down  the  infernal  fires. 
And  the  Pope  tires  me. 

Enter  lucrezia 

LUCREZIA 

Does  the  Pope  tire  you,  Cesare.? 

You  start:  your  colour  runs  up  like  a  maid's. 

CESARE 

I  would  I  were  one;  hey,  you  startled  me. 
As  one  who  has  stolen  a  peach  and   drops  it.     The 
heat's  intense. 

LUCREZIA 

Give  me  your  fan,  Sancia,  I  dropt  mine.     You  laugh? 
Thanks.     I  were  fain  there  were  a  toneless  storm 
Murmuring,  with  wind  behind  it.     How  my  heart  beats. 
I  can't  keep  quiet.     Am  I  not  beautiful. 
Sancia? 

SANCIA 

Beautiful. 

LUCREZIA 

She  says  it,  Cesare, 

Between  her  lips,  just  like  some  dainty  word 

You  think  might  please  a  caged  bird.     The  bird 

Nods  its  head  and  hates  its  cage  and  you. 

I  must  hate  someone.     There's  no  one  here  to  bate. 

Where's  Giovanni? 

CESARE 

He  may  be  here  to-night. 

I  saw  him  last  enter  Imperia's  house 

f  141 


CESARE    BORGTA 

As  I  turned  a  corner.     She  leaned  from  a  window;  vine 
Crawled  on  her  naked  back;  and  she  had  seen  him 
And  laughed  as  some  man  caught  her  by  her  arms 
Behind  her  in  the  room.     Such  are  bought  kisses. 

LUCREZIA 

Bought  kisses  from  a  painted  creature?     There's 

No  symbol  of  the  vine  nor  of  the  wine 

But  of  the  window  and  her  naked  back. 

And  then  you  hear  her  cry  on  God:   "O  hell! 

What's  left  but  hell,  when  I  am  but  a  name, 

Who  had  such  beauty,  to  be  whirled  with  wind. 

Hot  wind  in  hell's  intense  heat?     And  all  my  spices 

And  all  my  vices  gone !     And  I  that  loved 

Men's  kisses  more  than  life;   to  have  come  to  shame. 

And  so  die  shamed."     Cesare,  you  hear  her  cry! 

CESARE 

So  might  Imperia  when  death  comes  on  her 
And  she  lies  wasted,  and  her  beauty's  vain 
As  her  face  seen  in  her  mirror. 

LUCREZIA 

I  say  to  you,  poured 

On  the  ground  like  untasted  water,  after  the  wine 
Is  tasted,  such  beauty  might  be,  when  desire 
Desires  desire  and  that  desire's  denied. 

SANCIA 

Hopeless,  estranged,  unchanged. 

LUCREZIA 

What  do  you  mean? 

[15] 


CESARE  BORGIA 


SANCIA 


Nay,  I  mean  nothing;  any  more  than  sleep 
Tells  ever  what  it  means. 


LUCREZIA 

To  be  estranged 

Is  what  I  want,  who  want  so  little  else. 

CESARE 

So  little  else? 

LUCREZIA 

Do  you  think  I  want  the  world? 

I  want  —  I  know  not  what;  for  all  I  have 

Is  given  me :   life  and  youth  and  health  and  beauty  — 

And  riches  and  jewels  and  rings;    these  clothes  I  wear 

This  fan,  not  mine,  I  take  from  Sancia.     Nay, 

One's  beauty  is  one's  beauty. 

SANCIA 

Do  you  love,  Lucrezia, 
Giovanni? 

LUCREZIA 

How  you  startle  me,  Sancia  dear! 
ISIy  blood  stirs  not  at  his  name;  only  this  fan 
Trembles  a  little:  or  is  it  the  wind  in  the  room 
That  stirs  it?     In  so  much  heat,  how  hot  the  wind, 
June's  wind.     Giovanni?     Shameless  you  are,  Sancia, 
Who  ought  to  know  — 

SANCIA 

Who  ought  to  know  too  much? 

fl6l 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

Giovanni  sacrifices  to  the  rebellious  angels. 

LUCREZIA 

How  this  heat  tires  me!    There  are  nets  to  weave 
Out  of  soft  sleep  and  subtler  scents  to  snare 
Youth  that  is  so  much  younger  than  the  world. 

SANCIA 

"Rebellious  angels?"     So,  one  sacrifices, 
Still,  to  the  fallen  gods? 


CESARE 


Shed  blood,  my  Sancia, 
May  still  be  sacrificed. 

LUCREZIA 

In  some  cunning  way. 
As  look  you,  out  of  this  my  sinful  soul. 
On  those  my  sinful  lips  when,  being  vexed, 
They  bite  the  blood? 

CESARE 

A  goodly  bait  to  men. 

LUCREZIA 

God  send  me  a  better  bait!     These  Spaniards,  now, 
Where  are  they? 

CESARE 

They  live  with  me. 

[171 


CESARE   BORGIA 

LUCREZIA 

They  keep  me  waiting.     An  evil  genius 

Presided  at  my  tragic  birth,  yet  am  I 

Evil?     My  life  shall  be  tragic;  Spanish  blood 

Runs  ever  hotly  in  us,  Cesare! 

I  know  I  shall  be  a  mockery  in  men's  ears 

In  women's  mouths  a  scorn;   a  windy  laughter, 

A  fire  that  flamed,  a  sail  in  a  grey  rain: 

And  this  shall  be  my  Dirge. 

"Of  what  is't  fools  make  such  vain  keeping? 

Sin,  their  conception,  their  birth,  weeping? 

Their  life,  a  general  mist  of  error. 

Their  death,  a  hideous  storm  of  terror." 

Enter  Giovanni 

GIOVANNI  losings  mockingly~\ 

"Their  death,  a  hideous  .storm  of  terror!" 
I  came  light-hearted;   now  you  dash  my  mirth 
As  from  Gian  the  jester  might  have  in  Verone 
At  Can  La  Scala's  Court,  where  Dante  turned 
The  fool's  jest  to  a  witty  pun  on  words. 

CESARE 

These  are  but  senseless  cries  out  of  your  mouth. 
Only,  I  seem  to  see  a  .shadow  .slanting. 
That  lengthens,  and  is  thru.sting  out  a  foot 
That  might  be  yours.     Come  you,  aside  with  me. 

Exeunt 


181 


CESARE  BORGIA 

SCENE  TWO 

In  the  Vatican 
Enter  pope  Alexander  and  cesare  borgia 

THE   POPE 

There  Is  a  monstrous  error  in  the  world: 
Who  shall  deliver  us  from  too  much  love 
Save  the  sunderer  of  hearts?     This  is  not  love, 
But  some  horrible  conspiracy  of  things 
That  casts  one's  days  out  like  departing  guests, 

CESARE 

If  there  is  anyone  you  love  with  rage, 
WTio  but  Giulia  Farnese?     Her  eyes  and  mouth 
Deny  and  invite.     They  say  she  is  Christ's  Bride, 
But  when  she  dances  she  lures  one :  when  she  laughs 
She  is  the  image  of  one  who  stands  at  the  door 
Of  a  Tavern  giving  on  a  den  of  thieves. 

THE   POPE 

I  would  that  I  were  moral,  Cesare, 

That  know  myself  abnormal;  know  that  vice 

Is  simply  vice,  and,  if  there  exists  virtue 

Here  in  these  hot  streets  where  the  wanton  women  — 

CESARE 

Go  painted  like  the  idolatrous  images 

That  worship  only  the  clang  of  metal;   those 

Have  but  brief  Uves,  and  thieve  the  lives  of  men. 

[19] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

THE   POPE 

Thieves  that  steal  forth  at  night :  none  shall  requite  them. 
We  are  dramatic;   poised  on  a  point  of  time 
Not  even  poisonous.     Last  night  that  hot  feast-room 
\Yhen  Lucrezia  was  so  pale,  so  strangely  pale, 
And  Sancia  flushed  with  wine  and  lust  of  the  flesh 
Stared  dowTi  Giovanni  with  her  treacherous  eyes 
Where  Vannozza  was  not,  strike  on  all  my  senses 
As  if  the  door  of  a  furnace  had  been  suddenly 
Opened  in  that  brief,  speechless  minute,  showing 
Glimpses  of  hell,  and  then  as  suddenly  shut. 
And  yet  the  feast  went  on. 

CESARE 

The  feast  went  on. 

I  had  no  fever,  thought  of  no  such  things; 

A  conjuror  might  juggle  in  his  hands 

And  so  deceive  you;  there's  no  such  deception 

Left  to  us  now. 

THE   POPE 

None,  none!     Are  we  not  too  naked 

In  all  men's  sight.^     Yea,  God  hath  fashioned  us 

For  other  uses  than  these,  for  other  means. 

CESARE 

Do  we  not  play  into  each  other's  hands? 

THE   POPE 

I  have  no  rival. 

CESARE 

Nay,  you  have  no  rival. 

So  far  you  hold  all  your  vices  well  in  hand: 

[20  1 


CESARE   BORGIA 

So  far.     I  say  no  more.     We  have  had  content  — 
Content  with  our  own  selves.     I  say  to  you 
We  shall  soon  move  pity  and  terror. 

THE    POPE 

One  must  act, 
Cesare. 

CES-\RE 

And,  after  having  mimed  and  acted, 
God's  to  be  reckoned  with. 

THE   POPE 

Sublime  you  are  not; 

Shall  God  have  ever  pity  of  us,  Cesare? 

CESARE 

Site,  if  I  see  not  as  God  or  Satan  might 

Myself,  I  find  you,  godless  on  your  throne, 

A  splendid  strangling  serpent  of  strange  cunning  — 

Image  of  the  pride,  defiance,  revolt  and  sin 

That  makes  the  axles  of  the  live  earth  turn  — 

Coiling  around  some  semblances  of  good. 

And  venomously  round  semblances  of  evil. 

THE   POPE 

So  it  might  be,  Cesare,  so  it  might  be. 
I  am  I,  yet  I  know  not  what  I  am 
Some  say  of  me  —  they  may  be  right  or  wrong  — 
That  in  mine  own  self  I  possess  the  ignoblest 
Vices  whose  heads  have  risen  since  Satan  fell  — 
Crowned  serpent  of  the  nether  clefts  of  Hell  — 
Out  of  the  heaven  he  hated. 

[21] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

A  word  in  your  ear. 

Sire,     Pardon  me,  but  has  not  Giovanni 
Accused  you,  accused  me,  with  strange  menaces 
Of  incest  with  Lucrezia  —  hcs  more  damnable 
Than  truths  on  a  har's  tongue? 

THE    POPE 

I  curse  not  him 

Yet.     Such  menaces  are  the  Devil's  own 

Inventions  for  the  credulous  ears  of  those 

Whose  tongues  do  lick  up  poison.     It  has  been  known 

The  pavement  sinks  under  a  woman's  feet; 

It  has  l)een  known  that  limbs  are  easily 

Contaminated;   and  that  some,  being  foully  tortured 

Have  eaten  strange  flesh.     Such  prodigious  things 

Breed  more  prodigious  mixtures. 

CESARE 

More  prodigious 

Than  these  there  shall  not  be.     Mere  menaces 
Shall  make  us  more  merciless.     Sweet  Christ  of  mine, 
What  shall  I  do  for  your  sake?     Some  smell  of  blood 
Some  dust  that  hurts  me,  some  wind's  thunderstorm, 
Some  puddled  rain-shallows:   more  teasing  things 
Than  these  that  bite  and  sting  one:  just  for  her 
Sake,  Lucrezia's.     Sire,  her  life's  too  flame-like 
And  her  desires  consume  her. 

THE    POPE 

In  you  and  me 

Lives  a  live  cloud  and  a  more  living  flame. 
Which  flame  .shall  rise,  rise,  to  consume  the  cloud? 
Which  cloud,  which  flame,  shall  beat  the  other  back? 

[221 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 

Let  flesh  and  blood  make  answer.     I  have  none. 

THE    POPE 

Men  shall  cast  hard  stones  at  me,  drag  me  alive 

Before  they  think  to  slay  me,  in  God's  sight 

These   being   shameless;     they   have   eaten    poisonous 

words 
And  are  not  choked  withal.     Nay,  I  may  drink 
Be  made  drink,  the  Lord's  cup  of  derision.     Yet  shall 

not  I 
Die  by  these  means.     For  having  made  me  man 
He  shall  not  slay  me  utterly,  being  his  Pope, 
And  His  anointed. 

CESARE 

Look  you  between  your  feet. 

Lest  a  snare  take  them  though  the  ground  be  good. 
Death  will  have  nought  of  altar  and  altar-song 
Although  a  man  go  cloaked  up  to  the  chin. 

THE    POPE 

Verily  I  may  be  smitten  by  other  gods 
That  are  to  me  most  alien. 

CESARE 

I  bid  you  hold 
Keen  danger  by  the  skirt,  grip  hands  with  him. 

THE    POPE 

Yea,  one  Creed  chokes  another  as  gross  weeds 
That  hate  the  flowers  they  mix  with,  hideously. 

[23] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

To  move  men's  minds  to  travail:  that's  the  word 
I  want.     Might  I  but  have  the  Spirit  of  God! 

CESARE 

Yea,  the  Almighty.     Soon  shall  come  the  time 
When  we  shall  stand,  naked,  and  face  to  face 
Before  no  throne,  nor  Satan's  throne  nor  God's. 

THE    POPE 

Then  shall  the  Vatican  tremble,  filled  with  clouds 
Contagious. 

CESARE 

Time  comes  not  on  leaden  wings. 
Yet  on  a  certain  night,  when  no  sun  shines 
And  moonlight's  pale,  and  we  shall  only  hear 
Men  stir  uneasily  as  in  sleep  that  pace 
The  Piazza,  and  there  enter,  insolently, 
The  Wind  and  air  of  night  (the  air  we  breathe. 
The  wind  bat-like)  and  every  corner  of  our  souls. 
Corner  and  coign  and  cranny  shall  be  filled 
With  an  ominous  sense  of  deeds  that  have  been  done 
And  undone  deeds,  and  find  no  way  to  grope 
Anywhere  out  of  the  nets  of  guilt  and  sin, 
Of  crime  and  blood-shedding:   then  shall  the  Wheel  of 

Fortune 
Turn  in  the  void,  and,  on  one  turning  wheel. 
No  Christ  fall  off  his  Crucifix,  but  the  image 
Of  the  Temptress  of  our  Sins,  pale  as  in  Naples, 
Sancia,  with  painted  cheeks,  ripe  for  hell's  fire. 

Exeunt 


[24] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

SCENE  THREE 

The  Appartamento  Borgia  in  the  Vatican 
Enter  cesare  and  lucrezia 

CESARE 

If  God  exists,  then  I  exist;   my  Sire 
Also,  with  length  of  years,  unnatural  nights. 
Dreams  abominable,  fleshly  desires  that  make 
His  very  limbs  ache;  for  with  blood  like  his  — 
Hot  as  the  African  sun  that  burns  on  Spain 
Over  Elche  and  Valencia  —  Arab  blood 
That  makes  one  mad;  I  ask  you,  Lucrezia, 
WTiat  more  can  any  desire  in  any  father 
Thau  we  who  have  Christ's  Vicar  for  our  Sire? 

LUCREZIA 

Why  not?    We  have  all  we  want;  but  wanting  means 

More  than  we  want.     Our  birth's  enra veiling 

We  must  leave  to  Nature.    Why  is  it  I  don't  love  Rome? 

Because  I  hate  not  to  be  wholly  Spanish, 

Not  to  have  been  born  in  Spain,  and  not  to  have  had 

Raven  tresses:  blue  black,  lustrous,  coiled. 

Such  as  they  dip  in  a  foimtain  in  Cordova  — 

Josef  a,  Dolores;  and  they  sit  in  the  sun  there 

And  drink  the  fierce  sky  in. 

CESARE 

You  ask  me  why? 
Because  our  flaming  hearts  burn  inward,  burn  not 
Outward,  to  escape  the  intolerable  pain 
Of  their  reclusion. 

[25] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

LUCREZIA 

We  are  like  stormy  sunsets 
That  have  no  sunrises.     Have  we  not  seen  in  visions 
Christ's  blood  stream  in  the  firmament? 

CESARE 

And  God's  wrath 

In  painted  pictures.     Yet  we  were  born  in  April. 

LUCREZIA 

I  love  lilies  more  than  the  roses;   roses 

Burn  in  my  cheeks,  my  skin  is  white  as  lilies. 

And  yet  I  sigh  for  Venus  and  Adonis, 

He  the  sweet  Knight  she  loved,  and  she  the  wanton 

That  let  him  perish;   I  sigh  more  for  Atalanta, 

That  strange  pure  virgin,  stainless  save  for  the  wild 

blood 
She  shed  —  the  boar's  —  for  whose  sake  Meleager 
Perished,  Althea's  virginal  son,  in  Calydon. 

CESARE 

Will  you  pray  for  me,  Lucrezia,  if  I  am  suddenly 
Slain? 

LUCREZIA 

Pray  for  your  soul,  I  might;   as  for  your  body, 
No. 

CESARE 

How  your  eyes  are  upon  me!     Stir  not  madness 
In  this  hot  blood  that  aches  for  loveliness, 
Yours  more  than  other's. 

[26] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

LUCREZIA 

I  cannot  love  you  more 
Than  I  have  always  loved  you,  Cesare. 
And,  now  1  love  you  as  you  love  me:  yet 
All  my  love  is  not  wholly  yours. 


You  love? 


CESARE 
LUCREZIA 

Vanozzal. 

CESARE 

And  the  Pope? 

LUCREZIA 

No  more  nor  less, 
If  I  think  well  of  the  manner  of  my  loving 
To  hira-ward:   and  I  would  the  winds  and  waters 
Washed  me  as  clean  in  certain  men's  reports 
As  I  am  pure  in  nature. 

CESARE 

Heed  nothing  now! 

LUCREZIA 

Cesare, 
We  have  drunk  the  wine  of  love  as  lovers  have 
Ever  since  love  itself  created  love.     This  drunk, 
We  never  are  the  same.     Shame  be  to  me 
If  ever  I  forget  you  or  forgive  you ! 

CESARE 

Why,  you  suspect  me? 

[27] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

LUCREZIA 

If  I  do  suspect  you, 
T^^^y  not? 

CESARE 

^Yhy  not?     Have  I  done  you  wrong? 

r 

LUCREZIA 

INIuch  wrong. 

CESARE 

More  than  Giovanni? 

LUCREZIA 

O,  much  less,  much  less. 

CESARE 

You  know  that  I  am  evil? 

LUCREZIA 

Evil  and  cruel:  one 
None  ever  fathomed;   you  are  unfathomable. 
Deep  as  the  sea  in  storms.     In  wronging  me 
You  wrong  yourself. 

CESARE 

How  wonderful  you  are 
Lucrezia !  I  could  kiss  these  feet  of  yours 
Now  —  if  it  were  worth  kneeling. 

LUCREZIA 

So  you  say, 
Wlio  have  knelt  often  to  Sancia. 

[28] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 

Sancia? 

LUCREZIA 


Sancia. 

CESARE 

You  are  most  fair  and  fearful,  feminine, 

Not  faultless,  but  you  breathe  warm  heights  of  the  air, 

And  the  extreme  heavens  find  favour  in  your  sight. 

LUCREZIA 

Feminine  I  am,  not  fearful;  fair,  not  fierce; 
And  when  I  breathe  the  warm  air  things  ruinous 
Pass  in  my  vision:   I  see  the  realms  of  the  Dead  — 
Not  the  extreme  heavens  —  where  Faustina  dances 
With  Helen,  and  the  dark  gods  of  Hades  laugh. 

CESARE 

Were  I  in  Hades  I  would  dance  with  them! 

LUCREZIA 

You  mean  with  Sancia? 

CESARE 

With  Faustina. 

LUCREZIA 

I  see: 
With  living  beauty  in  hell  rather  than  with  living 
Beauty  on  earth.     We  spoke  of  wine.     Drink  this. 

She  offers  him  ivitie 
It  might  be,  for  all  I  know,  made  of  hell's  fire. 

[29] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

Why  do  you  turn  so  pale?     As  if  some  stupor 
Had  fallen  on  you,  and  hell  lay  just  beneath 
The  Vatican,  and  a  dead  man's  face  stared  up 
Out  of  the  depths? 

CESARE  dashes  the  glass  of  mine  on  the  floor  with  a 
nervous  gesture;  the  wine  stains  the  floor  like  blood. 

CESARE  [^slowly^ 

Out  of  some  stupor?     Lucrezia? 

I  have  seen  no  dead  man's  face;  we  are  not  in  hell; 

I  know  that  I  am  pale  and  you  are  not. 

There  lies  the  blood  of  the  wine  that  I  have  spilt, 

And  there  it  shines  between  us;   blood  turned  wine: 

\Vine  that  no  man  shall  drink;   blood  that  no  man 

Shall  ever  taste. 

LUCREZIA 

This  is  most  strange  in  you. 

CESARE 

Forgive  me  for  what  I  have  said. 


Of  me?    To  me? 
Against  me? 


LLX'REZIA 


CESARE 


Against  you,  never;  of  you,  perhaps; 
To  you,  too  often. 

LUCREZIA 

Nay,  not  often  enough. 
Listen !  I  think  I  hear  the  Pope's  footsteps. 

[30] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

Let's  share  him.     Some  are  of  the  Devil's  crew 
And  none  from  the  Ghetto  steered  them. 

The  POPE  enters 

THE    POPE 

I  catch  your  word. 

You  know  for  certain  what  one  says  in  Spain 
Sounds  in  Rome  just  as  jarring  in  one's  ears 
As  someone  coughing  when  one  hangs  him  up. 

LUCREZIA 

There's  much  more  evil  here 
Than  one  supposes. 

THE   POPE 

Evil,  why  not  evil?     This  insolent  heat 

Is  over;  but  I  have  a  quickened  sense 

In  my  imagination;   some  hollow  heat 

Of  hell  returning  makes  this  room  turn  red. 

Now  to  supplant  some  evil:   as  when  the  Tiber 

Turns  hideous  with  dead  drifting  things  upon  it. 

CESARE 

There  is  between  its  banks  a  troublous  tide  — 
A  tide  tongued  with  windless  words,  that  takes 
None  of  the  laughing  colours  of  our  streets. 

LUCREZIA 

"Dead    drifting    things":     that    makes    me    shudder; 

somehow 
This  day  has  been  most  evil;   women's  praise 
Is  lost  on  me :  I  am  thrown  into  some  humour. 

[31] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

THE    POPE 

Some  fever  in  the  blood,  a  girl's  mere  malady 

That  leaves  her,  laughing;   something  under  the  girdle 

Perhaps  too  warm. 

CESARE 

Now  he  jests  cruelly 
Yea,  but  blood  slain  shall  not  be  healed  again 
Nor  heat  the  forsaken  flesh. 

Enter  Giovanni 

GIOVANNI 

You  jibe  at  flesh.? 

CESARE 

Nay,  at  forsaken  flesh;  and  blood  unhealed. 

GIOVANNI 

You  are  too  keen  on  blood. 

LUCREZIA 

Giovanni  mine, 
There's  little  love  between  you. 

GIOVANNI 

Was  there  ever.'* 

CESARE 

Was  there  ever? 

LUCREZIA 

You  ring  the  echo  like  unchristened  bells 
On  a  Cathedral  that  some  demon  pulls. 
Giovanni,  there  was  laughter  on  your  lips 
When  your  lips  smote  on  Cesare's. 

[32] 


I 


CESARE   BORGIA 

GIOVANNI 

He  checked  mine, 

Lucrezia,  he  checks  mine  always  now. 

CESARE 

Now, 

Now,  more  than  ever? 

GIOVANNI  [with  iro7iy'2 
More  than  ever,  Cesare. 

THE    POPE 

Cease,  cease  your  words,  O  my  evil  sons ! 
Certainly  mine,  as  certainly  not  of  God's 
Begetting,  why  do  you  tear  at  each  other  so. 
Not  literally,  but  with  more  hateful  words 
Than  hate  might  utter?     Satan,  had  he  had  sons. 
His  might  have  fought  no  less,  for  less  just  reasons. 
Than  you,  my  Giovanni,  than  you,  my  Cesare. 

CESARE 

We  may  be  of  Satan's  seed,  we  are  seed  of  our  sire, 
Seed  of  Vannozza. 

THE   POPE 

I  think  there  is  a  menace  in  the  air; 
I  feel  it  in  every  fibre  of  my  being. 

LUCREZIA 

In  hell  are  beds  of  perfume  and  sad  sound. 
And  there  with  nerve  and  bone  one  multiplies 
Extreme  pleasure  out  of  an  extreme  pain; 
And  all  the  gateways  smoke  with  fumes  of  flames 
And  aU  the  serpents  hiss  and  lift  their  heads. 

[33] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESAKE 

Giovanni,  you  must  know  one  has  been  in  hell  — 
Take  you  deep  note  of  this  —  where  are  shaken  sighs 
In  that  uncertain  state  where  women  walk 
Along  the  streets  with  loosened  hair  and  girdles 
Unbound  and  eyes  that  frighten  you:  the  Sun 
Ceases  and  the  stars  wonder,  and  all  Hell 
Is  filled  from  end  to  end  with  endless  shame. 

GIOVANNI 

There  is  a  terror  in  the  roots  of  my  hair 
And  a  certain  seething  fire  beneath  my  head 
And  all  my  flesh  grows  faint  and  feverish 
And  there's  an  anguish  in  my  very  bones. 
What  God,  what  Devil,  shall  deliver  me 
Out  of  the  hands  of  these  mine  enemies.'* 

CESARE 

Shall  Gods  bear  bit  and  bridle,  fool,  of  men? 
Can  any  fool  baffle  Satan  and  God? 
For  all  these  rest  now  as  lots  that  yet  undrawn 
Lie  in  the  lap  of  the  unknown  hour. 

THE    POPE 

Cry  not  so  much,  Giovanni, 

Words  far  too  feverish.     On  this  Crucifix 

I  have  upon  me  I  bid  you  cease  your  raving! 

GIOVANNI 

Do  I  grovel?     Am  I  a  thing  made  to  spit  on, 
A  thing  for  shame  to  spit  on? 

[34  1 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE  [oi-icZe] 

This  night  hell's  lips 
Shall  open  and  shut  once. 

LUCREZIA 

Giovanni,  why 
This  monstrous  mockery  that  has  no  name: 
No  name,  say  I?  as  if  our  verj'  name 
Were  rent  as  carrion  by  the  vulturous  beaks 
That  feed  on  fame  and  soil  it. 

THE   POPE 

Will  you  hear  me,  Giovanni? 

Were  but  Vannozza  here  that  she  might  hear  me 

Last  night  I  dreamed — God  help  me! — that  I  climbed 

Infinite  spirals  that  touched  not  hell  nor  heaven 

But  changed  to  ladders,  every  rung  of  them 

Dropt  away  from  me  as  my  feet  felt  them,  then 

I  fell,  I  fell,  sucked  under  a  slimy  floor 

Where  serpents  crawled,  coiled,  curdled;  and  then  down 

Into  annihilation.     Yet  I  heard  over  me 

The  moon's  evil  laugh,  the  sea-w'aves'  hiss; 

Then  soul  and  body  parted  at  the  stroke 

And  out  of  an  infinitely  sharp  suspense 

I  woke, 

GIOVANNI 

God's  mercy!     INIay  I  never  dream 
The  like  of  that!     Such  dreams  forebode  much  evil. 

CES.^HE 

God's  mercy,  say  you?     Ask  not  that  of  Him. 
I  shall  not  tell  you  the  evil  dream  I  had 

[35] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

For  if  three  dream  bad  dreams  one  of  us  three 
Has  hfe's  hand  on  his  left,  death's  on  his  right. 

GIOVANNI 

Death's  on  his  right,  you  say?     I  take  no  heed. 
This  night,  of  hfe  nor  death.     I  sleep  not  here 
To-night. 

CESARE 

In  the  Trastavere? 

GIOVANNI 

Why  do  you  ask 
INIe?    WTiere  I  go  is  not  far  from  the  Ghetto, 
Where  stands  a  hideous  palace  whose  huge  stone  walls 
Exude  the  slime  of  an  embodied  crime. 

CESARE 

The  Cenci  Palace.     Opening  of  stealthy  doors 
There  have  I  heard;   near  by  stand  villainous  houses; 
And,  on  a  certain  night,  being  alone, 
Giovanni,  I  heard  scrape  on  a  window-pane 
What  certainly  was  the  sharpening  of  a  knife. 

Exit  GIOVANNI 
THE   POPE 

He  bade  me  not  good-night! 

LUCREZIA 

The  corpse-like  bride 
That  leads  in  endless  night,  awaits  him  there. 

CESARE 

A  corpse-like  curse. 

[361 


CESARE  BORGIA 

THE    POPE 

I  would  this  night  were  over! 

LUCREZIA 

I  would  it  were  not  over.     A  brideless  bride, 

Whose  eyes  have  sucked  in  the  noon's  heat,  whose 

perfumed 
Body  is  odorous  as  the  Orient,  her  heavy 
Eyes  masking  a  pool  that  has  no  depth 
Save  unseen  nakedness,  her  subtle  hands 
Mesmeric,  her  pure  breath  that  slays  a  man. 
Awaits  him,  pale  before  her  mirror,  whose  fair  flesh 
Lures  a  man's  steps  more  than  a  snake  a  bird. 

CESARE 

You  make  me  think  of  Ostia,  where  the  Tiber 
Bends,  making  its  escape  seaward,  where,  on  a  night, 
A  perfumed  night,  Cleopatra's  galley  went, 
A  scented  galley  like  the  scented  Queen, 
Its  way  to  Egj'pt,  where,  on  a  certain  day. 
No  Caesar  came  but  news  of  Caesar's  death. 

Exeunt 


[37 


CESARE   BORGIA 

SCENE  FOUR 
A  Room  in  michelotto's  House 

CESARE,  MICHELOTTO  and   ASSASSINS 
CESARE 

Aid  Cesar,  aut  Nihil:  invented  maliciously. 

Out  of  old  logic  and  tenacious  will. 

That's  my  device.     But  for  the  present  this 

Question  is  all-important,  vital  as  life: 

What  must  be  done  and  never  left  imdone; 

If  not  we  lose  our  time  in  vain  conjectures. 

Blood  of  his  blood,  bone  of  his  bone,  my  Father 

Owns  me  his  first-born.     He  has  done  much  for  me 

But  nothing  like  the  length  of  my  desires. 

Think  what  I  have  done  for  him  and  myself! 

What  have  you  gained  from  serving  him,  Michelotto? 

MICHELOTTO 

My  Lord,  none  works  for  nothing:  he  gave  me  nothing. 

CESARE 

I  am  a  Cardinal  —  with  a  difference  — 

And  the  Pope  made  me  Cardinal.     Perhaps  I  chafe 

A  little  at  the  title.     Blood  is  blood 

And  in  my  blood  desire  in  the  extreme  excites  me 

To  deeds  the  night  might  start  at;   deeds  not  done 

Yet,  in  the  seven  hells. 

FIRST    ASSASSIN 

Our  trade  is  trade; 
We  beg  not. 

[38] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

And  we  love  not. 

CESARE 

If  I  love  not 
This  brother  of  mine,  nor  ever  loved  him,  I 
Begged  never  a  favour  from  him.     Words  like  these 
Stir  up  intents  that  lead  to  events.     The  event 
To  come  is  just  as  ripe  as  a  ripe  apple 
A  snake  stung  in  the  grass.     So  if  one  bites  it. 
The  apple,  that  is,  he  is  just  dead.     You  seize 
The  meaning  of  my  parable.' 

MICHELOTTO 

I  seize  it. 

CESARE 

I  name  not  the  name  I  need  not  name.     Let  pass 
His  name  as  the  wand  that  passes.     Sin  is  sin 
And  love  is  love  and  that's  not  all:  the  end 
Of  all  is  death. 

THIRD    ASSASSIN 

Yea,  you  have  said  the  word. 

CESARE 

And  after  that  the  Judgment.     I  judge  not 
The  man  I  name  as  God  might  judge  me,  when 
We  meet,  if  meet  we  might.     This  dagger's  point 
Of  mine  that  aches  in  its  sheath  so  quickens  me. 
Now,  as  I  touch  it:  don't  you  see,  Michelotto, 
That  every  nerve  in  my  mind  is  touched  to  the  quick 
As  the  dagger's  point  that  touches  a  man's  skin; 
And  that  in  my  subtle  and  most  intricate  spirit 

[39] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

Visions  are  laid  bare,  and  that  the  speech  must  come 
From  stress  and  struggle  of  things,  till  there  be  per- 
fected 
The  keystone  of  mine  own  work,  and  I  set  myself 
Utterly  free  from  a  being  that  cries  in  mine  ear. 
Forever? 

MICHELOTTO 

Fire  is  not  more  fervent  than  you  are; 
Yet  certain  flames  are  easily  put  out. 

THIRD   ASSASSIN 

As  in  a  tavern  where  the  candles  bum 
The  roof-trees  down. 

CESARE 

Nay,  nay,  no  wine-gossip; 
Something  more  wonderful  than  wine!  What  else 
But  naked  and  bare  tragedy.'* 

THIRD   ASSASSIN 

Bare  tragedy? 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

It  may  sound  singular,  but  I  think  you  mean 
Just  what  we  mean  on  any  common  day 
That  hit  our  heels  together  in  the  jumping 
Of  that  which  preys  on  actless  action. 

CESARE 

There 
You  strike  a  note  that  rings.     One  must  take  heart 
And  bend  no  idle  knees  to  any  God 

[40] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

That  grimaces  in  a  garden.     If  I  could  put 

The  hate  I  have,  the  love  I  have  not,  for 

Him  I  have  named,  why,  then,  if  God  is  God, 

God  must  not  be  thought  on;   for  the  act  that's  mine 

Acts  with  God  never. 

MICHELOTTO 

So  mad  Nero  said 
That  set  Rome's  roofs  on  fire,  and  loved  the  fire 
That  bade  destruction  ruin  half  of  Rome. 

CESARE 

Let  me  see  for  myself  if  this  be  so! 

And  then,  one  gives  a  name  to  a  certain  name. 

MICHELOTTO 

A  very  nameless  thing,  an  evil  thing 
That  needs  no  devil's  sanction. 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

What  the  devil 
Are  we  here  for?    The  devil  take  me  if  — 

CESARE 

We  need  something  dramatic,  grip  and  strength, 
And  more  than  that,  a  drama  never  acted 
Yet,  on  so  small  a  stage.     Now,  here's  one  crisis 
That  has  no  climax. 

MICHELOTTO 

You  others  there,  look  up; 
Don't  be  such  tongue-tied  beasts.     I'm  body  and  soul 
Cesare's;  say  the  same. 

[411 


CESARE  BORGIA 

ASSASSINS 

Body  and  soul  we  are  his. 

CESAEE 

I  thank  you  all;  take  this,  a  Spaniard's  thanks. 
Conspirators,  I  think,  have  no  braver  souls 
Than  we  have;   and  I  seal  my  Catholic  faith, 
Not  for  the  first  nor  the  last  time,  on  this  deed 
The  moon  shall  hate  not,  hot  in  our  Roman  sky. 
There  is  no  greater  question  than  this  peril 
That  imperils  all  of  us.     Were  it  so  paid. 
All's  over.     You  must  not  so  stormily 
Stare  on  me,  for  here  is  simply  naught  but  storm. 
Tempest  and  terror. 

THIRD    ASSASSIN 

Here  are  simply  our  bodies; 
Hell  knows  if  we  have  souls. 

CESARE 

Our  souls  are  tossed 
On  winds  of  flame  and  over  waves  that  waft  us 
I  know  not  what  strange  scents.     Above  is  hell. 
Let  one  suppose,  and  underneath  is  heaven. 
And  God's  in  hell  and  Satan  is  in  heaven. 
And  we,  we  watch  and  pray  not:  yet  the  hour 
We  pray  not  for  is  nigh  at  hand. 

MICHELOTTO 

What  hour? 
[42] 


CESARE   BORGIA 


CESARE 


A  certain  moonlit  night.     One's  out  of  tune, 
The  Pope  might  well  be;  for  I  know  he  knows  not 
Aught  of  my  meaning  I  have  here  delivered 
By  word  of  mouth.     And  yet  he  guessed  at  it, 
By  certain  signs  in  his  eyes  and  in  his  gestures. 

MICHELOTTO 

Always  he  adored  Giovanni:   for  his  sins 
Are  sensual  enough :   he  is  capricious, 
And  shadows  make  him  start. 

CESARE 

So  shall  the  shadows 
Start  when  Giovanni  passes,  mighty  ministers 
Of  all  the  mischiefs.     Nay,  there  is  never  a  vengeance 
Anywhere  in  this  world  like  mine  own  vengeance 
That  cries  and  must  not  be  hurt. 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

The  great  thing  is 
To  strike  but  once. 

THIRD    ASSASSIN 

The  great  thing  is  to  strike 
Till  there's  no  room  to  think  a  man's  alive. 

CESARE 

There  is  no  room,  and  yet  the  man's  alive. 
The  being  that  cries  ever  in  mine  ears, 
A  crying  that  is  more  insatiable  than  the  wind's, 

[431 


CESARE  BORGIA 

A  crying  that  is  more  intolerable  than  the  sea's. 
I  hold  to  the  helm  of  Fortune.     And  have  I  not 
Every  just  reason  in  this  reasonless  world 
To  remit  this  just,  this  deadly  deed  to  other's 
Hands  and  not  mine?     I  remit  this  to  your  hands: 
And,  with  these  words,  I  bid  you  all  Good-night. 

Exit  CESARE 

SCENE  FIVE 

vannozza's  Vineyard  in  Sa7i  Pietro  in  Vincola 

VAJsnsrozzA 

The  Serpents  have  been  gliding  in  the  streets 
And  we're  outside  the  gates  of  Paradise 
But  not  as  exiles  from  the  wrath  of  God. 

CESARE 

Fear  not  God's  anger.     Satan  is  a  Serpent. 
These  live  in  passionately  untempered  evil 
And  sin  has  clothed  them  with  their  slimy  skin 
That  makes  thought  itself  weary. 

SANCIA 

Thought  itself 

Thinks  inwardly.     The  snakes  have  fascination 
And  never  think  even  of  the  poison  in  them 
That  turns  from  violent  life  to  violent  death. 

GIOVANNI 

Cesare,  your  strangling,  cruel,  serpent  eyes 
Are  fixed  on  mine;   they  will  not  draw  me  in 
Your  magic  circle. 

[44] 


I 


CESARE  BORGIA 

VANNOZZA 

Why  do  you  shiver,  Giovanni? 

CESARE 

As  one  whose  leg  is  sunk  up  to  the  knee 
In  the  earth  of  a  new-made  grave? 

GIOVANNI 

No,  no,  no,  no! 
Does  a  wolf  caught  in  a  trap  shiver? 

SANCIA 

You  make  me  laugh. 
I  think  of  a  girl  we  know,  one  Benedicta, 
A  pretty  sort  of  baggage  is  that  child ! 

GIOVANNI 

Pretty  she  may  be:   the  devil  take  me  if 

I  know  what  you  are  driving  at,  you  two  — 

Conspirators,  perhaps. 

CESARE 

That's  very  strange 
Giovanni  mine;  and  the  devil  take  me  if 
You  haven't  uttered  a  word  I  never  thought 
Had  leapt  to  your  lips. 

SANCIA 

How  your  lips  twist  and  twitch, 
Giovanni!     Have  we  hurt  you?     Anyhow 
You  seem  to  grudge  us  every  word  we  say  — 
If  gTudging  were  worth  a  coin  one  tosses. 

145  1 


CESARE  BORGIA 

GIOVANNI 

Lucrezia  — 

Would  she  were  here !  —  would  hate  you ;   how  I  hate 

You,  Sancia! 

SANCIA 

Me,  Sancia?     Because  the  stars  are  fewer 

In  heaven's  span,  and  June's  not  over  yet, 

And  stings  are  stings:   the  Ghetto's  something  too 

And  people  quite  improper  who  trip  there 

On  their  own  errands;  these  you  ought  to  know. 

GIOVANNI 

Suppose  I  do  not,  or  suppose  I  do, 
\Miat  matters  it? 

CESARE 

It  matters  very  much; 
You  may  have  greater  knowledge  than  we  have 
Of  those  one  hangs  like  rats  that  squeak  too  much 
And  care  not  overmuch  for  the  merciful  bowels 
Of  Mother  Church,  and  get  few  crumbs  cast  to  them, 
Anyhow,  from  anyone's  table. 

GIOVANNI 

That's  odd  enough; 
For  don't  Jews  help  one  to  one's  sins,  who  help 
None  to  the  Gods  they  don't  believe  in? 

CESARE 

"Thou  sayest 
It." 

[46] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

VANNOZZA 

How  your  nerves  are  jangling!     Wrangle  not 
With  wicked  words.     This  is  no  orchard-pit 
Where  bones  of  dead  men  lie. 

GIOVANNI 

"  Where  dead  men  lie?" 

CESARE 

Nay,  bones  of  dead  men. 

VANNOZZA 

Will  you  never  end? 
You  play  on  words,  words  always.     By  the  light  of  love 
I  have  for  you,  this  Thursday  is  w^holly  mine, 
Mine  utterly  and  yours.     It  is  Passion  Week! 
For  God's  dear  sake,  don't  leave  me  on  this  night 
Of  nights,  for  I  am  passionate  to  want  you 
In  all  my  love  to  keep  you  here  all  night. 

CESARE 

Your  fairer  son  leaves  with  your  swarthier  son. 
This  very  night  of  nights. 

GIOVANNI 

This  night  of  nights?     So  says  your  swarthier  son 
Who  has  all  that's  lacking  in  me;   so  he  thinks; 
So  think  not  I.     He  ever  had  his  will 
Fixed  as  the  four  winds  in  the  world's  four  quarters. 
They  change  their  will :  he  changes  his :  some  wind 
Is  ever  in  his  laughter;  but  his  laughter 
Is  colder  than  the  winter  wind. 

f47l 


CESARE   BORGIA 

SANCIA 

You  are  right, 
Giovanni :  ^Miat  keen  insight  suddenly 
Shakes  you  out  of  your  wonted  fashion? 

VANNOZZA 

Can  Cesare 
Answer  this? 

CESARE 

Why  should  I  answer?     You  might  as  well  ask  me 
Is  the  road  safe  to  Naples?     That  I  know  not. 
Only,  whether  the  roads  be  safe  or  not. 
To-morrow  finds  us  on  our  way  to  Naples. 

GIOVANNI 

So  Pontius  Pilate  might  have  said  to  Christ. 

Outside  is  heard  a  voice  singing 
Don  Cesare  laughs  at  God 
And  drinks  light  wine  to  the  brim. 
He  scourges  the  Pope  with  a  rod 
Of  his  wrath  and  his  head  makes  nod 
The  stars  that  laugh  at  him. 

GIOVANNI 

It  is  your  turn  to  shiver,  Cesare, 
Now. 

CESARE 

I?     Never.     It  is  the  voice  of  Gian  the  Jester 
Who  followed  me:  not  that  he's  mine;  Lucrezia's 
Favourite  Jester. 

SANCIA 

Why's  not  Lucrezia  here? 
[48  1 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 

For  her  soul's  sake. 

GIOVANNI 

For  her  soul's  sake !     For  her  sins'  sake,  more  likely, 
Considering  the  hfe  we  lead. 

VANNOZZA 

She's  my  child. 
If  she  be  sinless  or  sinful,  she's  my  child; 
And  I  defy  the  world  to  sever  us ! 

CESARE 

There  flames  the  real  Vannozza;   she  who  keeps 
Herself  so  much  out  of  our  way.     The  mother  in  her 
Survives  the  Sinneress. 

VANNOZZA 

Eh,  you  still  jibe  at  me: 
Your  jests  strike  never  hard.     For  I  am  one 
That  has  but  little  will,  one  easily  swayed, 
And  never  know  if  evil  turns  to  right: 
Nor  if  God  really  loves  us. 

GIOVANNI 

That's  a  saying 
Our  Sire  might  solve. 

CESARE 

A  saying  he  dare  not  solve. 

SANCIA 

Indeed  he  dare  not. 

[49] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

Now  take  this  case,  Giovanni : 

Suppose  I  choose  to  go  by  night,  as  you  do,  always, 
INlasked  and  disguised,  in  quest  of  one  knows  what, 
Tripping  on  hght  heels  after  any  adventure? 

GIOVANNI 

Where  sportive  ladies  have  their  doors  ajar? 

CESARE 

Exactly  so.     You  must  not  hunt  me  out. 
In  that  case,  for  I  never  hunted  you. 

GIOVANNI 

Hugely  you  say  these  threats;  when  the  street's  hushed 
You  won't  do  that. 

CESARE 

Nay,  not  for  some  intense  girl 
That  entreats  you  with  the  eyes,  when  one  in  Church 
Crosses  her:  not  for  Christ's  passion  on  the  Cross! 

SANCIA 

You  get  about  the  best  that  God  invents 
In  finding  simple  beauty,  with  a  soul. 

VANNOZZA 

Why  talk  of  women  always?     This  one  night  — 
Nay,  not  our  last  —  don't  spoil :    that  were  bad  luck. 

GIOVANNI 

Cesare,  forgive  me,  for  our  Mother's  sake. 

They  take  each  other's  hands 

[50] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 

There's  no  forgiveness  needed.     Words  are  wind 
And  wine  is  wine;  and  we  are  at  the  Feast. 

GiAN  \j)asses  singing^ 

I  have  gone  on  without  thinking 
K  the  cup  that  I  am  drinking 
May  not  overflow  the  brim; 
And  I  wonder  this  should  be. 
Death  can  dare  to  think  of  me 
Seeing  I  never  thought  of  him. 

GIOVANNI  [leaping  wp] 

Confound  the  creature !     Had  I  the  chance  to  catch  him 
His  ears  had  paid  for  this  insult. 

SANCIA 

Sit  down;  be  quiet.     There  have  been  things  worse 
Than  this  to  be  endured.     By  all  the  Saints 
You  are  wrong,  wrong. 

GIOVANNI  [sits  doimi] 

Suppose  I  am,  or  right 
It  is  no  mercy  of  mine  to  let  him  go 
Unhanged,  who  well  might  decorate  a  gateway; 
Only,  I  let  him  go,  his  neck  unbroken. 

CESARE 

Is  that  your  choice?     You  had  no  other  choice. 

GIOVANNI 

Suppose  I  had  my  choice  the  man  were  hanged. 

[51] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 

You  said  before :  "his  neck."     You  change  your  mind. 

GIOVANNI 

Men's  necks  are  broken  easily  enough. 

CESARE 

Not  half  as  easily  as  having  a  man  slain. 

GIOVANNI 

Slain,  yes. 

CESARE 

Nay,  I  say,  striving  after  things  done  right 
Or  acts  done  wrong  can  never  lead  to  much. 

GIOVANNI 

Will  you  rain  curses  on  a  woman's  lips? 

CESARE 

Even  the  rain  can't  wash  a  wound  quite  clean. 

SANCIA 

A\'(ll,  what  with  wounds  and  blood  and  rain  and  curse 
And  necks  and  nothing,  surely  our  wine  might  turn 
To  a  bitter  taste. 

VANNOZZA 

Nay,  never,  Sancia. 

I  drink  tluis  pure  red  wine  to  all  of  you. 
Have  I,  who  loved  and  love  you,  ever  praised 
You  for  your  beauty,  Giovanni  —  overmuch? 
For  mine  is  on  the  wane. 

[52] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

GIOVANNI 

You  have  praised  me  beyond 
All  belief  of  praise. 

VANNOZZA 

One  gains  eternal  fame. 

CESARE 

I  pledge  you  both,  now,  in  the  spirit's  name. 

They  drink 

SANCIA 

How  lovely  is  your  vineyard;  now  the  hour 

On  the  sundial  points  to  ten.     Night's  shadows  fall 

As  ours  might  on  the  grass;  the  crocuses 

Like  little  flames  of  gold  shine.     The  swift  lizards 

Leap  in  delight  and  flash  and  vanish  away. 

Only  the  wind's  restless  always  in  hot  June; 

And  can  a  man  be  quiet  in  his  soul 

And  love  the  wind.'^ 

CESARE 

I  love  the  wind  and  sea. 
And  I  love  wine  and  kisses;  and  I  love  blood. 

GIOVANNI 

Nothing  but  blood  that's  blood  and  wine  that's  wine 
And  death  that's  death:  and  where  do  I  come  in? 

CESARE 

You  come  in  always  as  you  used  to  come. 

[53] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

GIOVANNI 

With  blood  before  me  and  with  blood  behind 
As  an  image  out  of  hell's  flames  risen  to  earth 
Out  of  a  spirit  of  sheer  mockery? 

CESARE 

We  are  not  in  Spain:  and  you  are  not  in  hell  — 
Yet;   and   there   are   worse   things   than   mere   blood- 
shedding 
When  death  exacts  from  blood  some  reckoning 
We  reek  not  of  that  alive.     The  stain  of  blood 
Flies  upward:   so  I  read  in  a  Spanish  Tragedy 
That  deals  with  sinister  matters;  now  corruption 
Stalks  in  with  spell-bound  gestures;   now  the  scent 
Of  graveyard  earth  stinks  in  our  nostrils;  now 
A  phantom,  in  a  wizard  shape,  comes  dancing 
With  blood  upon  the  delicate  soles  of  his  feet. 

GIOVANNI 

Sancia,  I  suffer  from  the  intensity  of  this  heat. 
One  stifles.     I  were  fain  the  heavens  took  fire 
And  the  rain  fell  like  drops  of  blood.     To  think 
Even  of  sleeping  is  as  if  one  asked  the  owls 
To  stop  their  hooting. 

CESARE 

Sleep  may  come  on  you. 
I  am  no  owl  to  beat  against  your  windows 
With  wings  the  rain  has  hurt  with  drops  of  blood. 

SAXCIA 

I  say  to  you,  the  root  of  hate  grows  hell  ward 
And  from  the  roots  of  evil  reptiles  thrive. 

(54  1 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

I  say  to  you  that  reptiles  always  thrive. 

VANNOZZA 

I  tell  you  here's  too  much  of  treasonous  malice. 
Here,  in  this  very  shoal  and  shore  of  time. 
We'll  jump  the  life  to  come;   imaginings 
Beat  at  our  hearts,  and  present  fears  are  less 
Than  such  uncertain  images  of  things 
We  know  too  little  of.     Let  us  arise  now, 
And  taste,  after  our  feast,  the  air  of  night. 

They  walk  to  and  fro 

CESARE 

Mother,  I  fear  it  is  time  for  us  to  leave  — 
To  leave  in  peace  —  this  place  of  holy  rest. 

VANNOZZA 

Why  go  so  soon,  my  son?     The  air  is  fresh. 

CESARE 

The  air  is  fresh.     The  wind  will  soon  blow  shrewdly. 

GIOVANNI 

I  have  no  haste  to  hasten  back  to  Rome. 

SANCIA 

I  stay  here  for  the  night,  with  your  kind  leave, 
Varmozza. 

[55] 


CESARE  BORGIA 


VANNOZZA 


Certainly,  dear  child.     Yet  these  must  go  — 
Alas,  alas!     They  must  —  these  sons  of  mine 
Their  Holy  Father  waits  for  in  the  Vatican 
To  bid  them  both  farewell. 


CESARE 

Alas,  dear  Mother, 

The  Pope  desired  me  —  ardently  —  to  return 

To  the  Vatican  before  he  takes  his  rest. 

GIOVANNI 

His  rest.'^     Sleep  sound  he  may  —  sleep  he  may  not. 

CESARE 

I  am  quite  certain  you  shall  sleep  to-night. 

GIOVANNI 

I  have  no  hope  at  all  to  sleep  to-night. 

CESARE 

I  catch  your  meaning.     Let  our  mules  be  harnessed. 

VANNOZZA 

I  see  they  are  both  harnessed  at  the  gate. 

CESARE 

Wish  us  good-night,  for  we  must  both  be  gone. 

[56] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

VANNOZZA 

Good-night,  Cesare;  good-night,  Giovanni  mine. 

They  embrace 
Cesare,  who  is  that  hooded  man  I  see 
Behind  the  mule-guides? 

CESARE 

You  need  not  fear 
A  man  whose  face  is  masked.     He  comes  at  nights 
When  I  am  —  not  in  the  Vatican.     Good-night. 

GIOVANNI  [_aside'] 
Cesare,  you  must  leave  me  at  the  Cesarini. 

CESARE  {^aside"] 

A  palace  named  after  me?     That's  sinister. 
Leave  you  I  shall;   my  way  lies  not  your  w^ay; 
For  I  must  go  to  the  Piazza  degli  Ebrei 
To  pray  some  damned  soul  shirks  not  his  own  Hell. 

Exeunt 


SCENE  SIX 

A  Square  in  the  Trastavere 
Enter  michelotto  vnth  two  assassins 

MICHELOTTO 

The  hour  is  after  midnight,  not  death's  hour 
Sounds  yet,  and  there  are  ghosts  that  mope  in  Hell, 
And  Satan  stalks  in  Rome  and  goblins  laugh 
From  the  house-roofs.     Perdition  awaits  us  if  — 


CESARE  BORGIA 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

Tremendous  If?     Why,  in  the  devil's  name, 
Have  you  brought  us  here? 

MICHELOTTO 

To  do  a  sinister  deed. 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

A  storm  of  ghosts  to  give  us  ghostly  aid? 

That  shall  make  men  shudder  in  their  very  graves; 

There  shall  be  blood  on  the  untimely  lips  of  Death 

And  a  certain  dusty  hunger  in  his  bones. 

The  deed,  you  ask?     A  deed  that  has  no  name, 

Yet  has  a  name.     In  the  name  of  toad-stools,  what? 

MICHELOTTO 

Something  less  harsh  than  murder;  nay,  a  deed 
That  has  no  shape  of  breath;  nay,  not  the  wind 
Can  shape  it  to  its  purpose. 

FIEST   ASSASSIN 

Our  purposes 
Are  plain  and  simple.     We  know  many  a  trick; 
V>e  know  your  name;   we  have  entered  in  your  pay; 
Here  we  three  are :  and  there  the  Tiber  crawls. 

MICHELOTTO 

And  there  the  Tiber  crawls.     We  are  but  three, 
And  soon  shall  come  a  fourth.     I  am  an  Artist 
In  the  fine  art  one  names  the  Art  of  Slaying.     You 
Are  less  than  slaves. 

[58] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

So  you  may  think  of  us. 
It  seems  there's  here  a  kind  of  perfidy, 
A  thing  that  has  a  mask  on,  an  apology 
For  Vice. 

MICHELOTTO 

You  seem  to  grasp  my  meaning.     What's  Vice 
But  Vice,  and  that's  perfidious,  as  one's  death? 
Time's  up,  by  the  moon's  shadow:  how  time  shps 
Under  one's  feet!     Brats  have  grown  into  whores. 
It  is  a  whoremonger  you  have  to  slay. 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

The  lordliest  whoremonger  that  lives  in  Rome? 

MICHELOTTO 

The  lordliest. 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

There  is  no  wind  at  all  in  this  fierce  heat; 

The  air  we  breathe  is  hell's;  my  knife  wants  sharpening. 

MICHELOTTO 

You  see  that  house  with  the  white  balconies, 
Two  windows  open  and  the  other  shut  — 
Rough  whitewood  shutters,  silent  as  blind  death  — 
Where  someone  sleeps  and  someone  wakes  (no  angels, 
No  angel  ever  sleeps)  that  not  the  dawn 
Yet  flares  on,  blood-red-weaponed  out  of  heaven  — 
Where  lives  a  woman  with  olive  skin,  black  eyes, 
A  morbid  languid  Asiatic  creature 
Who  gives,  not  sells,  her  body? 

[591 


CESARE   BORGIA 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 


That  naked  house? 


MICHELOTTO 


Yes.     Behind  it  stands 
The  ancient  Basihca  of  Santa  Maria 
In  Trastavere,  dehcate  in  desolation; 
And  beyond  that,  the  Tiber, 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

One  ought  to  know  it! 
The  refuse  of  the  filthiest  part  of  the  city 
Lies  on  its  banks  abandoned;   a  muddy  river, 
An  ugly  yellow  river. 

MICHELOTTO 

There  you  will  have  to  swing  the  man  you  have  slain 
Into  the  depths  where  slime  is  crawling. 

FIRST  ASSASSIN  [showiug  his  knife  he  has  sharpened^ 

The  first  man 
That  opens  yonder  door,  and  comes  with  wine 
And  lust  after  his  limbs  have  danced  all  night 
Into  the  street  where  none  hold  Carnival? 

MICHELOTTO 

The  same.     He  will  have  played  dice  on  the  harlot's  bed 
Desiring  to  divine  his  future.     This 
Shall  he  divine  to-night. 

Exit 

[60  1 


CESARE  BORGIA 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

Hanged  Judas'  price 
Of  Blood,  that's  all  our  hell-hound,  Don  Michele 
ISIichelotto,  gave  us.     Destruction  take  his  throat 
When  next  he  pays  assassins ! 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

Do  you  know  her  name, 
Hers,  who  lives  there? 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

No. 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

Imperia,  a  Lamia,  a  strange  snake-woman, 
Some  call  a  Vampire. 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

You  mean  dead-living  creatures  that  rise  from  graves 
At  midnight  and  suck  the  blood  out  of  one's  veins 
And  grow  the  lovelier  for  the  taste  of  blood? 

FIRST    ASSASSIN 

Those  that  she  slays  turn  Vampires. 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

I  see  a  face  — 
A  man's,  I  think  —  pass  inside  the  window. 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

Perhaps  a  Vampire! 

[611 


CESARE   BORGIA 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

Silence!     Listen!     Wait  in  the  shade. 

The  door  opens  and  Giovanni,  flushed  with  loine, 
comes  into  the  street  and  shuts  the  door  behind  him. 

GIOVANNI  [_singing'] 

What  a  lovely  thing  this  youth  is, 
If  but  Youth  could  always  stay  so! 
You'd  be  happy?     Be  to-day  so, 
In  to-morrow's  tale  no  truth  is. 

FIRST    ASSASSIN 

Sackful  of  Vices,  Pit  of  Infamy, 

There  are  several  deaths  by  which  a  man  may  die. 

Look  not  so  pale:  there's  no  escape  for  you. 

GIOVANNI 

Your  dire  looks  harbour  death.     You  are  mad!       Give 
way! 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

No  other  way. 

GIOVANNI 

O  I  am  trapped,  I  am  trapped! 
O  fair  Night  be  not  fatal  to  mc!     In  your  ear. 
You  there,  I'll  give  you  a  heap  of  golden  ducats. 

FIRST  ASSASSIN  [^oside  to  second] 
Were  he  the  Pope's  Son,  now,  we'd  give  him  life. 

GIOVANNI 

Ijii  not  gush  forth  my  blood!     O  spare  my  life 
Or  you'll  be  damned  forever.     I  am  the  Son  — 

f  02  1 


CESARE   BORGIA 

SECOND    ASSASSIN 

Here's  a  fine  drug  for  you  — 

They  stab  him 

GIOVANNI 


A  spirit  of  hell 
Has  turned  hell's  gate  back  for  me. 

O  God,  God, 
Be  not  pitiful ! 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

May  God  have  mercy  on  him! 


He  falls 
Dies 


SECOND   ASSASSIN 

The  man  we  have  slain  was  innocent  of  blood : 
We  keep  the  taint  of  it  on  ours.     Come  now 
Lift  up  his  head,  I  will  lift  up  his  heels. 

Before  they  have  raised  him   imperia   rushes  out 
and  falls  on  her  knees  beside  the  body  of  Giovanni. 

IMPERIA 

What  have  they  done  to  you,  Giovanni?     What  have 

they  done? 
Giovanni,  Giovanni,  they  have  killed  the  heart  that 

was  mine! 

The  curtain  falls 


63] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

SCENE  SEVEN 

The  Vatican 
Enter  the  pope  and  cesare  borgia 

THE    POPE 

For  seven  whole  days  and  nights  (such  nights  that  slay 

The  soul)  I  was  alone  as  God  might  be 

On  His  throne  lonely;   sleeping  not,  one  thought 

In  my  mind  always  (a  thought  to  make  one  mad) 

Beat  in  the  hollow  comers  of  my  brain 

And  drove  me  into  curses  dread  and  deep 

And  direr  imprecations  that  howled  in  the  air 

As  the  wolves  howl  that  hunger,  thirst  for  prey: 

I  was,  was  not,  myself. 

CESARE 

You  are  alive, 
Giovanni's  dead,  and  what  is  Rome  is  hell. 
I  have  confessed  to  you  the  deed  I  did  not  do, 
That  had  it  done;   for  vengeance  in  my  spirit 
Hurled  me  against  the  fiery  gates  where  Satan 
Waits,  hurled  me  back,  not  in  the  name  of  God. 

THE    POPE 

Name  not  God's  name.     An  eternity  has  passed 
From  the  instant  when  I  saw,  dead,  the  adored 
Dear  body  of  my  son  —  the  blood  waslied  clean, 
Alas,  of  his  nine  wounds  —  whereon  my  senses 
Left  me  and  I  fell  — 

164  1 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

As  Dante,  Sire,  in  hell 
After  Francesca  had  sighed  out  the  last 
Sob  of  her  tragic  heart,  whirled  on  by  flame  — 

THE   POPE 

—  Fell  and  was  dead,  dead  to  awake  to  life, 
And,  living,  to  have  had  your  breath  on  mine 
And  heard  your  accursed  lips  that  dared  not  lie 
Smite  mine. 

CESARE 

I  smote  you  not.     I  smote  with  words 
Your  lips  that  loathed  me. 

THE   POPE 

Cesare,  if  flesh  is  blood 

And  blood  is  flesh,  this  that  was  veritable  man 

Is  now  no  longer  man  nor  veritable. 

But  what  is  veritable  is  the  naked  fact 

That  we  who  have  talked  one  hour  over  what  is 

Both  flesh  and  blood  are  not  heartless  as  his  heart 

Now  silenced:    yet  he  is  as  absent  from  us  now 

As  we  are  from  God's  thought,  we  who  have  passed 

Out  of  his  death-chamber:   and  we,  even  as  he. 

Shall  get  no  answer  from  a  dead  man's  lips. 

CESARE 

You  have  spent  your  curses  on  me.     Curse  yourself, 
Who  have  need  of  curses.     Loveless  are  we  now. 
That  have  to  hve,  and  live  down  hate  and  love. 

[65  1 


CESARE  BORGIA 

THE   POPE 

Blood  of  my  blood  you  are  and  of  Vannozza's, 

And  therefore  are  you  a  devil  not  yet  damned 

No  absolution  ever  can  absolve: 

For  what  is  absolution  if  I  give  it 

To  one  who  sets  his  right  foot  on  my  throne 

And  might,  one  night,  set  foot  upon  my  face? 

CESABE 

I  might,  one  night,  set  foot  upon  your  throne. 

THE    POPE 

I  have  been  monstrous,  you  have  overpassed  me; 
I  have  been  perverse,  always  —  Your  perversion 
Conceives  against  me  and  for  me  vast  conceptions 
Most  terrible  and  unholy  and  atrocious  — 
Because  you  are  my  son.     Yea,  you  have  helped  me 
Because  you  are  my  son.     Son,  if  you  slay  me  — 
There's  still  one  reason  —  because  you  are  my  son. 

CESARE 

Because  I  am  your  son,  I  shall  not  slay  you. 
Because  you  are  my  father,  who  shall  slay  you? 
The  question  of  the  slaying  of  a  Sire 
Is  out  of  my  conception.     Of  you  begotten 
And  of  Vannozza  conceived,  I  am  not  yours 
Wholly,  nor  hers:   and  therefore  I  have  chosen 
The  one  course  left  me.     I  live.     Giovanni's  dead. 

THE    POPE 

Yea,  one  lies  dead,  who  had  a  right  to  live. 
And  one  stands  living,  who  had  the  right  to  die. 

[66] 


CESARE   BORGIA 

CESARE 

Who  had  the  right  to  Uve.     Nay,  all  your  curses 
Shall  give  not  the  dead  back  life;   nor  give  me,  hving. 
The  right  to  smite  you  with  curses.     There's  an  end 
Of  all  things,  not  of  this  thing,  that  lies  beneath  us. 
Wounds  have  no  words:  he  shall  not  speak  again. 

THE    POPE 

You  say  it,  you  whose  hands  are  not  clean  of  blood. 

CESARE 

Are  your  hands  clean? 

THE    POPE 

They  taste  of  blood. 

CESARE 

Do  mine? 

THE   POPE 

Mine  shall  taste  always  of  blood.     Have  we  not  felt  it? 

CESARE 

Yes,  we  have  felt  it,  and  the  taste  remains. 

THE   POPE 

Always  to  be  haunted  by  the  smell  of  blood? 

CESARE 

Mere  physical  disgust  and  that  wears  off. 
There's  an  intense  intoxication  in  a  crime 


[67] 


CESARE  BORGIA 

That  is  not  wine's  intoxication,  but  the  revenge 
Of  heated  blood  against  heated  blood:   a  thing, 
I  say,  that  has  no  more  meaning  than  a  word 
The  lip  lets  slip;   only,  if  someone  slips. 
The  other  follows. 

He  makes  the  gesture 

THE   POPE 

The  God  that  made  us  evil 
Did  that  irrevocably;  for,  as  we  make  ourselves, 
Ourselves  can  be  unmade;   what's  good  in  us 
Comes  not  of  our  own  goodness.     Lucrezia 
Has  the  evil  of  her  beauty  made  as  a  snare 
For  men's  souls.     But  —  as  for  the  one  soul  that's  fled? 


CESARE 

Ask  of  the  Great,  ask  not  of  me.  Sire  Father! 

THE    POPE 

As  the  wind  wavers  a  man  —  as  Judas  swings 
Forever  on  a  pale  wild  olive  bough 
Where  Satan  tempts  him  everlastingly 
And  begs  from  him  his  soul  he  cannot  give 
Because  its  thirst  can  never  be  extinguished  — 
I  might  be  hung  between  the  Sun  and  Moon 
And  see  the  clouds  scowl,  hear  the  winds  blow, 
The  owls  that  shriek,  the  minutes  as  they  go, 
And,  with  distracted  countenance,  still  live  on 
WTio  saw  God  made  and  eaten  all  day  long 
And  blessed  the  world;   and  never  see  my  Son, 
Giovanni,     Well,  what  recompense  for  that? 

[68  1 


CESARE  BORGIA 

CESARE 

None,  Sire.     It  is  I  that  keep  the  shame  of  it. 

We  have  drunk  deep  of  our  impurity. 

And  there's  but  one  most  certain  dining-time 

Betwixt  us  and  confusion;  and  then  waste. 

For  MaUce  waits  on  us  with  her  stooped  brows. 

And  time's  eternal  motion  will  not  stay 

One  instant  for  our  sakes.     And  she  may  come, 

Lucrezia,  she  must  come;   and  with  her  bring 

I  know  not  what  —  what  all  the  burning  waters 

Of  the  wide  seas'  conflagration  might  present 

To  our  unrepining  spirits. 

THE   POPE 

She  will  come 
And  with  her  all  the  beauty  of  the  world. 
I  dare  not  breathe;  the  air  grows  hea\'y.     My  senses 
Are  terrible  to  contend  with.     Let  not  my  feet 
Stagger,  O  God,  into  the  abyss  of  hell! 

CESARE 

Sire,  be  not  sinister.     The  Gods  forbid 
We  take  them  sinister- wise;   such  knavery 
Is  ever  unrewarded.     He  that  is  proud 
Eats  up  himself:   that's  an  old  proverb;  we 
Are  no  food  fit  for  the  Gods.     Our  generation 
Breeds  vipers;   there  is  more  subtle  craft  in  love 
Than  love  in  craft.     Nights  are  too  brief;  our  taste 
Is  violent  and  for  things  most  violent. 

THE    POPE 

Out  of  such  violence  comes  more  violence. 
As  when  a  beast  is  wild  and  frenzy  seizes 

[69  1 


CESARE  BORGIA 

His  hungry  eyes,  so  that  he  bites  the  ground 
And  paws  the  earth  up;  so,  if  my  God  forgets  me, 
Let  him  forget  the  beast  that's  in  me! 

CESABE 

God  forbid! 
We  are  no  such  beasts,  but  very  subtle  serpents. 
Inextricably  coiled,  that  cling  and  sting 
And  hate  and  hiss. 

THE    POPE 

Not  all  eternity 
Shall  eat  up  all  these  hours. 

CESARE 

Not  even  the  hunger 
That  gnaws  the  edges  of  Eternity 
Shall  give  Lucrezia  what's  beyond  all  hunger: 
The  gift  of  the  vision  of  the  fall  of  the  Axe  of  Fate. 
Enter  lucrezia  in  wild  excitement 

LUCREZIA 

I  have  seen  Giovanni!     Give  me  wine  to  drink! 

CESARE 

Here's  wine. 

LUCREZIA 

No,  no,  there's  red  blood  in  the  cup. 
And  if  I  taste  it,  I  shall  surely  die. 

THE  POPE 

Giovanni  and  alive? 

[70  1 


CESARE  BORGIA 

LUCREZIA 

Yea,  in  my  room, 
Alive  and  wounded.     Never  a  word  said  he 
But  showed  me  all  his  wounds;  one  on  his  throat 
His  left  hand  touched.     I  saw  all  the  red  stains, 
But  not  the  blood.     He  wavered  and  was  gone. 

CESARE 

His  violent  spirit  tried  to  outride  the  wind. 
I  am  the  hinge  of  the  gate  that  opens  Hell 
And  is  he  not  the  key  that  locks  the  Gate? 

LUCREZIA 

You  slew  him! 

CESARE 

Nay,  I  slew  him  not,  Lucrezia. 

LUCREZIA 

You  lie  to  me,  Cesare :  you  have  always  lied. 

You  always  will  lie.     You  are  ravenous  with  the  thirst 

Of  blood  you  live  for,  and  blood's  not  all.     Seven  devils 

Take  you!     If  ever  I  believe  in  you  again. 

Let  seven  devils  take  me!     I  have  seen  hell's  fire 

In  my  room.     I  have  seen  blood  on  Giovanni's  bosom, 

Blood  on  his  mouth,  and  still  you  cry  for  his  blood! 

CESARE 

I  swear  on  the  black  Crucifix  that  hangs  there  — 
There  on  the  wall,  that  all  souls  kneel  before  — 
That  I  lie  not. 

[711 


CESARE   BORGIA 

LUCREZIA 

I  tell  you  that  you  lie, 

Lie  in  your  throat.     If  he  should  enter  here! 

I  think  you  are  mad  that  will  not  answer  me. 

THE    POPE 

Child,  I  have  given  Giovanni  absolution 
But  never  as  one  gives  it  to  the  living. 

CESARE 

I  am  the  hinge  of  the  Gate  that  opens  Hell. 

LUCREZIA  puts  her  hand  to  her  forehead,  and  gazes 
on  them  wildly,  as  the  Curtain  falls. 


[72 


ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 


I 


ISEULT    OF    BRITTANY 

The  scene  represents  a  room  in  the  Palace  of  duke 
jovELiN  OF  BRITTANY,  with  o  door  on  the  right  and  at 
the  back  a  ivindow  overlooking  the  sea.  On  the  rights 
ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY  slts  at  an  embroidery-frame,  with 
three  of  her  ladies,  ygraine,  elaine,  a7id  Imogen. 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

How  can  I  think  of  Tristan  while  I  sit 
And  sew  these  idle  flowers  into  a  field? 
Tristan  is  fighting  for  his  life,  he  plucks 
The  harp-strings  in  a  lady's  chamber,  sings 
Of  battles  or  of  love  that  fights  in  hearts 
Wherever  hearts  are  gentle.     Where  he  is, 
There  life  is;  and  I  sew  my  idle  flowers 
Among  their  grasses,  and  I  do  not  live. 

ygraine 

Lady,  when  women  live  there  is  an  end 
Of  peace  in  life :  it  were  as  well  we  loved. 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

Would  you  not  love  to  love? 

YGRAINE 

I  have  loved,  madam. 

[75] 


ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 

ISEULT    OF   BRITTANY 


Is  this  an  answer? 


YGRAINE 


I  have  no  other  one 
Can  say  so  much  in  Httle. 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

When  you  loved 


Had  you  no  joy  then? 


YGRAINE 


When  I  loved  I  had 
The  bitter  joy  to  know  I  loved  a  man. 

ISEULT    OF   BRITTANY 

And  evil  came  of  it? 

YGRAINE 

Evil  it  was. 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

I  could  love  well,  and  yet  be  happy.     Some 
Ask  such  a  great  and  hea\'y  deal  of  Ix)ve: 
He  cannot  make  all  happy  overmuch. 
But  I  would  build  up  the  live  air  with  peace 
About  a  quiet  nesting-place  for  love. 

YGRAINE 

He  will  not  nest,  but  he  will  fly  abroad 
Until  the  waters  are  loud  under  him. 

[761 


ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

ISEULT    OF   BRITTANY    [tO   ELAINe] 

Look  out,  and  tell  me  if  the  sea  by  now 
Has  lapped  the  seaweed  off  the  sand? 

ELAINE  [rising  and  going  to  the  windoio} 

The  sea 
Is  thin  and  grey  and  wrinkled  and  speaks  low. 

ISEULT    OF    BRITTANY 

It  Speaks  to  me  of  Cornwall.     I  would  be 
Again  in  Cornwall.     There  the  iron  rocks 
Are  always  white  with  foam,  and  there  the  wind 
Talks  with  the  sea  in  caverns  underground. 

YGRAINE 

The  demons  of  the  sea  have  ancient  homes 

In  Cornwall,  and  their  names  are  like  our  names; 

We  worshipped  the  same  gods  before  they  died. 

ISEULT    OF    BRITTANY 

The  Irish  Iseult  worships  the  old  gods 
Within  her  heart,  and  only  with  her  lips 
Prays  by  the  name  of  Christ.     She  has  a  mind 
More  manly-hearted  than  a  man's.     And  now 
She  is  the  queen  of  Cornwall. 

ELAINE 

She  was  made 
To  be  a  queen. 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

Ah!  you  have  seen  her? 
[771 


ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 

YGRAINE 

Once; 
In  Ireland :  all  the  women  of  her  isle 
Are  fiercer  than  our  women,  but  in  her 
There  is  the  majesty  of  cruel  beasts. 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

Could  she  be  cruel? 

YGRAINE 

As  a  noble  beast; 
Not  crafty,  not  for  less  than  hate  or  death. 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

My  thread  is  knotted;  pray  you,  take  the  frame 

She  rises,  and  moves  to  the  window,    where    slw    sits 
down . 

I  will  work  no  longer.     Will  you  sing  to  me? 

IMOGEN 

What  shall  I  sing? 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

The  song  that  Tristan  made 
When  he  was  wounded,  and,  being  like  to  die, 
Put  all  his  pain,  to  ease  it,  in  a  song. 

IMOGEN  \^sings2 

If  this  bo  love  I  die, 
I  die  of  hoping  love, 
That  will  not  hence  remove, 
Nor  will  not  all  deny. 

178  1 


ISEULT  OF   BRITTANY 

His  sharp  and  bitter  dart 
Is  fast  within  my  side; 
Come,  my  old  courage,  hide 
Thy  death  within  thy  heart. 

I  will  not  shrink  although 
This  death  in  love  there  be: 
She  whom  I  love  is  she 
Who  is  through  love  my  foe. 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

A  bitter  and  proud  song,  a  lying  song; 
It  is  not  love  nor  any  woman  born 
That  is  so  cruel  to  a  man.     I  think 
A  man  may  be  so  if  one  loves  a  man. 

YGRAINE 

Have  I  not  said  it,  lady? 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

Yet  I  think 
Tristan  could  love. 

ELAINE 

He  had  an  eager  face; 
His  eyes  were  swifter  than  a  falcon's  flight 
After  a  heron  startled  from  the  reeds 
Till  a  cloud  hides  him. 

YGRAINE 

Tristan  could  love  well. 
[79] 


ISEULT  OF   BRITTANY 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

Why  am  I  lonely  when  I  thmk  of  him? 

I  would  that  I  had  never  gone  to  Cornwall. 

And  yet  I  would  not.     Tristan  is  my  foe. 

As  the  song  says,  because  I  could  have  loved  him. 

And  now  I  send  my  heart  out  in  weak  sighs. 

Sewing  them  in  with  stitches,  plaiting  them 

Into  a  mere  song's  pattern,  and  I  hear 

Nothing  but  my  heart  sighing  in  the  wind, 

And  in  the  sea  that  only  used  to  sigh 

For  its  own  old  forgotten  loneliness. 

The  Irish  Iseult,  if  she  loved  a  man, 

^Yould  take  him  with  her  little  warrior's  hands 

Out  of  a  field  of  fighters;   she  would  walk 

Through  blood,  yes,  through  her  mother's  feud  of  blood 

To  Tristan,  if  she  loved  him;   as  indeed 

She  hates  him  more  than  any  man  on  earth. 

ELAINE 

Iseult  of  the  TMiite  Hands  is  not  so  fierce 
To  snatch  her  joy  out  of  unwilling  hands. 
Yet  can  she  wait,  and  there  is  not  a  joy 
Which  may  not  come  to  patience. 

The  door  opens,  and  an  attendant  enters. 

ATTENDANT 

Madam,  the  Duke. 
The  old  DUKE  comes  in.  He  goes  up  to  his  daughter 
The  MAIDS  go  out,  one  by  one. 

DUKE 

Peace  to  my  daughter. 

He  sits  down  beside  her 
Is  it  peace  with  you? 

[80] 


ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

Father,  I  have  forgotten  where  peace  dwells. 

DUKE 

Why  here,  my  child,  if  you  but  stay  at  home 

And  furnish  a  guest-chamber  in  your  heart. 

I  am  an  old  man,  I  have  suffered  loss 

Of  well-nigh  all  a  man  can  have  to  lose. 

Yet  peace  has  never  left  me.     Enemies 

Have  torn  my  castles  out  of  these  weak  hands, 

Harried  my  fields  and  farms,  my  people  are 

My  people  now  no  longer;  yet  I  still 

Sit  by  my  fireside,  while  these  walls  are  mine, 

And  talk  with  peace.     I  am  old,  you  are  young: 

The  young  have  many  wants,  as  infants  have, 

Who  want  the  stars,  the  brightness  of  sharp  swords. 

The  burning  rose  of  fire.     What  troubles  you.^* 

ISEULT    OF   BRITTANY 

Father,  the  oldest  trouble  in  the  world. 

She  rises  from  her  seat  and  sits  on  a  stool  at  his  feet. 

DUKE 

Ah,  this  is  the  first  trouble  of  young  maids. 
Before  they  learn  what  grief  is.     I  have  lived 
So  long,  and  it  has  always  been  the  same. 
Who  is  the  man  my  daughter  loves? 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

A  knight 
Who  is  the  bravest  knight  in  all  the  world. 

[81] 


ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 

DUKE 


What  is  his  name? 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

Tristan. 

DUKE 

A  noble  name, 
I  have  heard  only  honour  of  the  name; 
If  he  were  here,  his  sword  would  gain  my  cause. 
Does  Tristan  know  that  Iseult  loves  him? 

ISEULT    OF    BRITTANY 

No. 

I  have  but  spoken  with  him  twice  or  thrice. 
In  Cornwall;   I  have  looked  upon  his  face; 
He  knows  me  not  from  any  other  maid. 

DUKE 

He  has  not  spoken  love  to  you? 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 

Ono. 
He  is  in  Cornwall,  as  I  think;  he  serves 
Mark  and  my  cousin  Lscult;   but  alas, 
She  hates  him  for  her  mother's  feud  of  blood. 

DUKE 

They  tell  me  there  are  women  of  that  land 
Fairer  than  other  women;   it  may  be 
That  Tristan  loves  some  lady  of  the  court. 

[821 


ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 

ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 


It  may  well  be. 

DUKE 

And  yet? 


ISEULT   OF   BRITTANY 


And  yet  I  love 
Tristan,  and  I  could  take  him  to  my  arms 
Even  out  of  another  woman's  arms. 


DUKE 

My  child,  if  this  be  so,  and  this  is  so. 
There  is  a  power,  I  think,  in  patient  love. 
Love  draws  its  own  unto  itself,  although 
The  whole  strewn  world,  violently  opposed. 
Lie  like  a  chasm  between.     I  have  seen  hope 
Wrench  its  fulfilment  from  the  grasp  of  things; 
And  love  is  power,  and  hope  is  only  sight. 
There  is  no  witchcraft  that  can  draw  a  man 
Like  a  weak  woman's  love,  when  that  can  wait 
And  never  waver.     Can  you  wait? 

ISEULT    OF   BRITTANY 

As  those 
That  wait  for  morning. 

DUKE 

Yet  if  you  would  live 
Your  very  life,  hope  without  fear,  and  will 
Without  foreboding.     Life  is  in  to-day. 
Yesterday  and  to-morrow  are  but  words, 

[83  1 


ISEULT  OF  BRITTANY 

And  all  despair  and  fear  and  melancholy 
Are  shadows  of  that  shadow.     Cast  away 
Remembrance,  and  the  fear  of  things  to  come, 
And  live  between  the  dawn  and  sunsetting; 
So  shall  desire  die  or  be  satisfied, 
So  shall  all  things  live  out  their  hour,  and  die. 
So  shall  the  world  be  constant  to  its  change. 

ISEULT    OF    BRITTANY 

Father,  there  is  no  surety  in  the  world. 

DUKE 

Then  trust  the  world  no  more;   trust  your  own  soul, 
That  makes  the  world  as  you  would  have  the  world. 

IMOGEN  [^from  outside] 

If  this  be  love  I  die, 
I  die  of  hoping  love. 

DUKE 

WTiat  is  that  song? 

ISEULT    OF   BRITTANY 

A  song  that  Tristan  made. 

ELAINE    AND    IMOGEN    [^OUtside] 

If  this  be  love  I  die, 
I  die  of  hoping  love, 
That  will  not  hence  remove, 
Nor  will  not  all  deny. 

DUKE 

Come,  let  us  follow  where  these  voices  are. 

He  takes  iseult  by  the  hand,  and  they  go  out  together. 

[841 


THE  TOY  CART 
A  PLAY  IN  FIVE  ACTS 


DECOR 

"There  is  your  majesty  at  dice  with  the  queen:  behind 
you  stands  one  damsel  with  the  betel  box,  whilst 
another  is  waving  the  chounri  over  your  head:  the 
dwarf  is  playing  with  the  monkey,  and  the  parrot 
abusing  the  buffoon." 


FOUNDED  ON  THE  MRICHCHHAKATI  OF  SUDRAKA 


COSTUINIES 
WOMEN 

Waist  decorated  with  tinkling  bells;  anklets  of  silver, 
large  ear-rings  set  with  pearls,  bodice  buttoned  below 
the  waist  with  gems;  forehead  stained  with  saffron, 
silver  chains  on  the  feet,  on  the  forehead  a  mark 
brighter  than  the  new  moon;  dress  embroidered  with 
the  buds  of  the  lotus;  saffron-dyed  vest;  string  of 
cowries  round  the  neck,  lips  ruddy  with  betel;  forehead 
marked  with  a  saflFron  crescent. 

MENDICANTS 

Rosary  in  the  hand,  forehead  stained  with  sandal, 
wallet  at  the  side  covered  with  black  deer  skin,  vest- 
ments dyed  in  ochre,  bamboo  staves,  long  beards. 
Readers  of  the  Puranas,  carrying  under  their  arms  the 
sacred  volumes  wrapped  up  in  the  cloth  on  which  they 
take  their  seat. 


PERSONS  OF  THE  DRAMA 

CHARADUTTA,  a  Brahmin 

ROHASENA,    Ms  SOU 

MAiTREYA,  a  Brahmin,  his  friend 
SAMSTHANAKA,  the  hrother-in-law  of  the  king 

THREE  GAMBLERS 
THE  JUDGE 
THE  PROVOST 
THE  RECORDER 

TWO  CHANDALAS  (pubUc  exBcutioners) 

A   MENDICANT   FRIAR 

THE   SERVANT   OF   CHARADUTTA 

VASANTASENA,  a  danccr 
RAMBHA,  her  mother 

HER  MAID 

MAID-SERVANT  m  Charadutto's  house 

CROWD,    ATTENDANTS,    GUARDS 

THE    SCENE    taJces    place  in  the   city  of   Ujjayin, 
in  the  Western  part  of  India 


THE  TOY  CAET 


ACT  I 

A  room  in  charadutta's  house,  foorly  furnished,  with  a 
Jew  books  and  musical  instruments,  a  drum,  a  tabor,  a 
lute,  and  piper,  lying  about.  At  the  back  is  a  door  open- 
ing into  an  outer  court  or  garden,  with  a  wall  visible  at 
the  back,  beyond  which  is  the  street.  The  outer  door  is 
not  seen.  There  is  a  curtained  door  at  the  side  of  the 
room,  leading  into  the  inner  part  of  the  house. 

CHARADDTTA 

Rebhila  sang  exquisitely!  And  as  for  his  lute,  it  is 
a  sea-pearl;  it  was  more  comfortable  to  my  heart  than 
a  friend  consoling  a  friend  for  the  absence  of  the  be- 
loved;  it  had  a  voice  like  the  very  voice  of  love. 

MAITREYA 

Well,  well,  for  my  part  I  am  very  thankful  to  be  out 
of  it.     [He  sits  down,  as  if  tired.'] 

CHARADUTTA 

Rebhila  surpassed  himself. 

MAITREYA 

Now,  there  are  two  things  that  I  can  never  help  laugh- 
ing at:   A  woman  reading  Sanskrit  and  a  man  singing 

[91] 


THE  TOY  CART 

a  song.  The  woman  snuffles  like  a  young  cow  when 
the  rope  is  first  passed  through  her  nostrils,  and  the 
man  wheezes  like  an  old  pandit  who  has  been  saying 
his  beads  till  the  flowers  of  his  chap  let  are  as  dry  as 
his  throat;  and  the  one  seems  to  me  as  ridiculous  as 
the  other. 

CHARADUTTA 

Is  it  possible  that  you  did  not  admire  Rebhila's  mar- 
vellous skill.''  His  voice  was  at  once  so  sweet  and  so 
passionate,  so  flowing  and  yet  so  precise,  so  full  of  the 
ecstasy  of  delight,  that  I  half  fancied  I  was  listening 
to  a  woman  whom  I  could  not  see.  And  now,  though 
the  music  is  over,  I  can  still  hear  the  voice  and  the  lute, 
the  hurrying,  rising,  sinking,  the  pause  and  return  of 
the  wandering  melody. 

MAITREYA 

The  dogs  were  all  asleep  in  the  streets  as  we  came  back. 
They  were  wiser  than  we.  [servant  enters^}  Here, 
Vardhamana,  tell  Radanika  to  bring  water  and  wash 
the  master's  feet. 

CHARADUTTA 

No,  do  not  call  her:  she  will  be  looking  after  the  child. 

SERVANT 

I'll  bring  the  water,  sir,  and  Maitreya  here  can  wash 
your  feet. 

MAITREYA 

Do  you  hear  this  son  of  a  slave?  He  to  bring  the  water, 
and  /,  who  am  a  Brahmin,  to  wash  your  feet! 

[92] 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHARADUTTA 

Well,  my  friend,  take  the  water,  and  leave  him  to  do 
the  rest. 

SERVANT 

Come,  Mr.  Maitreya,  pour  out  the  water.  [He  washes 
charadutta's  feet  and  is  going.'] 

CHARADUTTA 

Stay,  Vardhamana,  wash  the  feet  of  the  Brahmin. 

MAITREYA 

Never  mind;  it  is  of  little  use;  I  must  soon  be  off 
tramping  again,  like  a  beaten  ass. 

SERVANT 

Are  you  a  Brahmin,  Mr.  Maitreya? 

MAITREYA 

I  am  a  Brahmin  among  Brahmins,  as  the  python  is  a 
serpent  among  serpents. 

SERVANT 

Well,  in  that  case  I  will  wash  your  feet.  \_Washes 
them  and  goes  out.~\ 

MAITREYA 

My  very  good  Charadutta,  do  you  want  to  know  why 
that  music  went  straight  to  your  head,  and  has  kept 
you  ever  since  in  the  shadow  of  an  intoxication? 

CHARADUTTA 

The  music,  and  the  memory  of  it. 

[93] 


THE  TOY   CART 

MAITREYA 

Memory,  that  is  it :  it  reminds  you  of  Vasantasena. 

CHARADUTTA 

Vasantasena ! 

MAITREYA 

You  need  not  echo  her  name  like  that.  Was  I  not 
with  you  in  the  garden  of  the  temple  of  Kamadeva, 
and  did  you  not  see  her,  covered  with  gold  upon  gold, 
jingling  with  bracelets  and  anklets,  like  the  chief 
actress  in  a  new  play?  And  what  is  more,  did  she  not 
see  you,  and  did  she  see  anyone  else  after  she  had  seen 
you? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  must  not  think  of  her,  Maitreya;  and  indeed  I  have 
no  intention  of  thinking  of  her  any  more. 

MAITREYA 

Then  hear  no  more  music,  offer  up  rice  to  the  gods, 
[//e  looks  out  of  the  v}indow.~]  Here  are  a  few  small 
birds  picking  at  three  seeds  in  the  garden;  there  used 
to  be  storks  and  swans  there,  and  enough  food  for 
them;   and  forget  all  women,  I  say,  forget  all  women. 

CHARADUTTA 

Wliile  Rohasena  lives,  how  can  I  forget  women? 
I  love  no  living  woman  as  I  love  the  child  of  my  dead 
wife. 

MAITREYA 

Perhaps  not,  but  'tis  of  a  very  different  kind  of  love 
I    am    thinking.     Vasantasena    is    a    courtesan,    and 

[94] 


THE  TOY   CART 

though  she  were  the  best  dancer  on  hearts  in  the  king- 
dom, and  a  woman  of  true  rehgion,  and  loving  to  her 
lovers  (and  I  neither  say  nor  unsay  any  part  of  it), 
yet  I  would  have  you  beware  of  her,  and  for  a  good 
round  dozen  of  reasons. 

CHARADUTTA 

You  are  mistaken,  Maitreya,  both  in  her  and  in  me; 
but  you  may  give  me  your  reasons. 

MAITREYA 

Well  now,  take  myself.  I  can  quite  well  remember  in 
old  days  when  I  used  to  sit  here,  where  we  now  are, 
but  on  cushions,  where  they  now  are  not,  and  eating 
scented  dishes  until  I  could  eat  no  more,  like  a  city 
bull  in  the  market-place.  Now  I  wander  about  from 
house  to  house  like  a  tame  pigeon,  to  pick  up  what 
crumbs  I  can  find. 

CHARADUTTA 

Forgive  me,  friend  of  all  seasons;  you  are  always 
welcome,  and  to  my  best;  but  it  is  my  sorrow  that 
I  cannot  now  feast  my  friends  as  I  did  before. 

MAITREYA 

They  feasted  you  out  of  house  and  home.  You  have 
a  royal  heart,  Charadutta,  and  you  kept  a  king's 
kitchen. 

CHARADUTTA 

Then  it  was  not  only  my  own  doing,  it  was  the  loss 
of  the  royal  favour. 

[95] 


THE  TOY   CART 

MAITREYA 


Well,  you  see  where  your  friends  and  the  present  king 
(may  his  reign  be  brief  and  happy !)  have  brought  you. 


CHARADUTTA 


Death  would  be  better.     Have  you  seen  how  all  my 
friends  desert  me,  Maitreya? 


MAITREYA 


Like  a  cowboy,  who  drives  his  herd  from  place  to  place 
in  the  thicket,  always  in  search  of  fresh  pasture. 

CHARADUTTA 

To  be  poor  is  like  dying  slowly.  But  what  has  all 
this  to  do  with  Vasantasena? 

MAITREYA 

A  very  great  deal.  Do  you  know  that  at  the  house  of 
Vasantasena  the  porter  dozes  in  a  big  chair,  as  stately 
as  a  Brahmin  deep  in  the  Vedas;  and  the  very  crows, 
crammed  with  rice  and  curds,  disdain  the  rice  thrown 
to  the  gods? 

CHARADUTTA 

And  if  so? 

MAITREYA  [more  and  more  rapidly] 

The  kitchen  smells  like  the  heaven  of  Indra,  and  the 
gateway,  they  tell  me,  to  the  inner  court  is  like  the 
bow  of  Indra  in  the  sky.  There  are  jewellers  setting 
pearls  and  sapphires  and  rubies  and  topazes  and  other 
jewels;    they  cut  lapis  lazuli,  polish  coral,  squeeze  out 

[961 


THE  TOY  CART 

sandal  juice,  and  dry  saffron;  and  there  are  men  and 
women  laughing  and  singing,  and  chewing  musk  and 
betel,  and  drinking  wine;  and  quails  fight,  and  par- 
tridges cry,  and  cranes  stalk  about  the  court,  and 
peacocks  dance  on  the  grass  and  wave  their  jewelled 
tails  like  fans,  and  in  the  midst  of  them,  like  the  mis- 
tress of  Indra's  garden,  is  Vasantasena! 

CHARADUTTA 

Whether  you  speak  on  your  own  knowledge  or  on 
hearsay,  I  do  not  see  how  all  this  concerns  me,  or  the 
least  of  your  twelve  good  reasons. 

MAITREYA 

You  have  said  it;  you  said  it  is  better  to  die  than  to  be 
poor.  My  first  reason,  then,  and  a  sufficient  reason, 
is  this,  that,  as  there  is  no  lotus  that  has  not  a  stalk, 
no  trader  that  is  not  a  cheat,  no  goldsmith  that  is  not 
a  thief,  and  no  village  meeting  without  a  quarrel,  so 
there  never  will  be  a  woman  of  that  profession  of  love 
that  does  not  love  gold  first. 

CHARADUTTA 

There  at  least  you  are  wrong.  The  beggars  at  all  the 
gates  of  the  city  have  blessed  her:  I  listen  to  their 
voices.  But  enough  of  this,  I  have  more  serious 
matters  to  tell  you  of. 

MAITREYA 

All  men  are  fools,  and  all  women  are  like  fortune, 
that  is  as  sliding  and  slippery  as  a  serpent.  O,  the 
folly  of  men,  that  will  not  know  that  a  woman  laughs 

[97] 


THE  TOY  CART 

money  and  cries  money,  and  is  altogether  money,  and 
that  she  squeezes  a  man  Hke  colour  from  a  bag  till  he 
is  drained  dry,  and  then  casts  him  out  into  any  corner 
of  the  field, 

CHARADUTTA 

You  think  evil  of  women,  because,  it  may  be,  you 
have  known  evil  women.  Such  there  are,  and  I  pity 
them,  because,  having  no  souls  for  the  life  to  come, 
they  have  not  made  for  themselves  delicate  shadows 
of  souls  for  the  adornment  of  this  present  life.  But 
you  are  right:  I  am  too  poor  to  be  in  any  danger  from 
this  fair  lady,  not  because  she  would  come  to  me  for 
gold,  but  because  I  should  desire  to  cover  her  wrists 
and  her  ankles  with  fine  gold.  If  I  have  heard  rightly 
of  her,  she  would  give  gold  rather  than  take  it. 

MAITREYA 

Heaven  send  her  to  your  house  with  only  a  few  pounds, 
weight  of  the  gold  and  jewels  she  carries  upon  her 
person. 

CHARADUTTA 

Maitreya,  this  is  unseemly.  I  tell  you  I  have  other 
matters  to  talk  of,  dangers,  or  perhaps  hopes,  that  are 
now  in  men's  minds.  What  do  you  think  of  the 
chances  of  Aryaka  the  cowherd  against  those  of  Pulaka 
the  king.^ 

MAITREYA 

Aryaka  has  a  prophet  behind  him,  Pulaka  only  a 
throne.  Yet  a  throne  is  stable,  until  many  men  over- 
turn it. 

[08] 


THE  TOY   CART 

CIIARADUTTA 

Many   men   are   pledged   to   overturn   the   throne  of 
Pulaka. 

MAITREYA 

Here  at  least  is  one  shoulder  for  the  occasion. 

CHARADUTTA 

Is  that  meant  for  a  word  or  a  deed? 

MAITREYA 

Try  me. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  will  try  you.     Will  you  share  a  secret  with  me? 

MAITREYA 

Give  me  half  then. 

CHARADUTTA 

You  must  bear  half  of  the  burden.     I  am  in  the  coun- 
sels of  Aryaka. 

MAITREYA 

I  knew  it.     Why  did  you  not  trust  me  sooner? 

CHARADUTTA 

You  know,  then,  that  he  is  to  escape  from  prison? 

MAITREYA 

Is  it  so?     When? 

CHARADUTTA 

To-morrow    or   the    day    after.     His   followers   await 
him  outside  the  gates. 

[99] 


THE  TOY   CART 


MAITREYA 


To  escape  from  prison  is  hard  enough,  but  not  so  hard 
as  to  get  through  the  city  gates. 

CHARADUTTA 

Have  I  not  free  passage  at  every  gate?  Is  my  carriage 
ever  detained  or  examined? 

MAITREYA 

Ah !  you  will  send  him  in  your  carriage. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  will  take  him  in  my  carriage,  and  you  will  be  with 
me.  They  will  say  at  the  gate:  "That  is  Charadutta 
in  his  carriage  with  his  friend  Maitreya."  No  one 
will  stop  us.  Once  outside  the  gate  he  is  among  friends. 
Then  we  will  return  quietly.     Will  you  come  with  me? 

MAITREYA 

I  would  come  with  you  to  the  cross-roads  by  the 
southern  cemetery,  beyond  which  no  man  goes  with 
his  head  on  his  shoulders. 

CHARADUTTA 

We  risk  no  less. 

MAITREYA 

Go  on. 

CHARADUTTA 

A  messenger  brings  me  word  when  he  is  out  of  prison, 
and  where  he  is,  there  my  coachman  finds  himself 
by  j)recise  accident,  not  knowing  why.  Promise  me 
your  help  and  your  silence. 

[100] 


THE  TOY  CART 

MAITREYA 

My  help  and  my  silence  are  yours.  Why  who  knows, 
if  the  cowherd  becomes  king,  Maitreya  may  creep  into 
comfort  at  a  cow's  tail. 

CHARADUTTA 

Ary-aka  will  not  fail.  He  will  bring  us  freedom,  and  is 
not  freedom  more  than  all  things? 

MAITREYA 

Can  you  say  that? 

CHARADUTTA 

Why  not? 

MAITREYA 

More  than  women  and  music?  Why,  your  whole  soul 
was  filled  with  Vasantasena  a  minute  ago,  and  will 
be  filled  with  her  again  next  minute. 

CHARADUTTA 

Do  you  think  so?  I  do  not  think  any  woman  will  ever 
come  between  me  and  my  duty. 

MAITREYA 

If  Aryaka  has  many  such  followers  he  will  not  fail. 
Pulaka  has  none.  Ilis  friends  leave  Pulaka  daily, 
and  not  so  much  for  love  of  one  or  the  other  as  for 
hatred  of  the  king's  brother-in-law,  Prince  Sams- 
thanaka. 

CHARADUTTA 

If  there  is  any  man  in  the  kingdom  I  would  be  least 
willing  to  welcome  in  my  house,  that  is  the  man. 

1 101  ] 


THE  TOY  CART 

MAITREYA 

Do  you  take  him  to  be  your  enemy? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  take  him  to  be  every  honest  man's  enemy,  and  I 
could  hope  he  has  made  no  exception  of  me. 

MAITREYA 

They  say  he  is  madly  in  love  with  Vasantasena,  and 
that  she  will  not  suffer  the  odour  of  his  cloak  within 
three  leagues  of  her  nostrils. 

CHARADUTTA 

He  is  not  only  a  terror  to  honest  men,  because  he  is 
afraid  of  the  scabbard  of  his  own  sword;  but  women 
fear  him  because  he  is  not  ashamed  that  they  should 
be  afraid.     Listen!     What  was  that.'*     A  cry? 

MAITREYA 

It  was  nothing;  the  high  road  at  this  time  of  the 
evening  is  a-swarm  witli  all  sorts  of  loose  persons, 
courtiers,  and  cut-throats.  Let  them  all  go  their  own 
way  to  destruction. 

CHARADUTTA 

That  is  an  evil  wish,  and  may  bring  us  misfortune. 
Listen!     Someone  is  knocking  at  the  door. 

Sounds  of  hvhhuh  are  heard  from  the  street,  cries 
and  scuffling.  Then  a  knocking,  charadutta  and 
MAITREYA  have  both  risen,  maitreya  opens  the  door 
and  looks  out. 

[  102  ] 


THE  TOY  CART 

MAITREYA 

Vardhamana  is  opening  the  door.  Someone  wants  to 
come  in.  He  tries  to  shut  the  door.  It  is  pushed 
open.  It  is  a  woman,  I  can  hear  the  sound  of  her 
anklets.  She  is  richly  dressed  and  covered  with 
jewels. 

CHARADUTTA 

A  woman,  richly  dressed,  why  does  she  seek  to  enter 
my  house.? 

MAITREYA 

I  will  call  to  her  not  to  come  in.     She  is  running  through 

the  court. 

He  starts  and  falls  hack  from  the  door  as  a  woman 
comes  hurriedly  forward  and  stands  on  the  threshold, 
veiled,  and  with  her  head  bowed  in  an  attitude  of 
humility. 

VASANTASENA 

Master,  forgive  me!  A  long  pause 

CHARADUTTA  {jn  a  Stifled  voice^ 
Vasantasena ! 

MAITREYA  [to  someone  withonf] 

No,  no,  not  you,  too! 

A  puffing  and  blowing  is  heard,  and  an  immense 
woman,  leaning  on  a  stick,  thrusts  herself  in,  past 

MAITREYA  and  VASANTASENA. 
RAMBHA 

Vasantasena,  indeed!     Don't  pretend  that  you  don't 

know  who  it   is.     Who  else  should  it  be?     Oh!  my 

[103] 


THE  TOY  CART 

poor  breath,  who  else  would  spend  the  last  breath  of 
her  poor  old  mother  with  runnmg  about  the  streets  at 
night,  and  without  her  attendants,  and  at  the  time  of 
the  evening  when  all  the  bad,  wicked  people  are  abroad 
on  the  king's  highway!  But  indeed  his  Royal  High- 
ness, if  the  girl  could  but  see  with  the  eyes  of  wisdom, 
her  mother's  eyes,  I  would  say.  .  .  . 


MAITREYA  [_ai  the  door] 

They  are  all  coming  into  the  garden.  It  is  the  prince. 
I  will  go  out  and  tell  him  what  I  think  of  him.  [He 
snatches  vp  a  stick  and  goes  out.  Noise  of  voices  is 
heard.] 

CHARADUTTA  {coTTiing  foTward] 

Honoured  guests,  my  house  is  yours.  If  it  is  too 
humble  for  your  entertainment,  it  is  at  least  a  safe 
shelter  against  those  who  have  dared  to  molest  you. 
Deign  to  enter  and  be  seated. 


RAMBHA 

You  would  come,  Vasantasena;  now  won't  you  go 
in  and  sit  down.^*  I  told  you  the  prince  meant  no 
harm;  it  was  only  his  way  of  showing  his  uncontrol- 
lable passion,  and  the  uncontrollable  passion  of  a 
great  prince  is  a  great  honour.  Thank  you,  sir,  I  will 
sit  down  with  pleasure.  [She  sits  down  heavily  and 
jyainfully.] 

VASANTA.SENA  moves  forward  and  stands  beside  her 
And  I  suppose  you  have  frightened  away  the  prmce 
for  good  and  all. 

[104] 


THE  TOY  CART 

MAiTREYA  [^outside  the  door^ 

Not  a  step  further,  or  you  measure  your  sword  against 
my  stick. 

SAMSTHANAKA    [without] 

Who  has  got  my  sword?  No,  don't  take  it  out  of  its 
sheath. 

MAITREYA  [backing  to  the  doof] 

Not  a  step  further. 

CHARADUTTA   [calls] 

Maitreya,  give  way!  [_He  goes  forward.']  My  lord, 
all  guests  are  welcome  to  my  house,  who  enter  it  in 
peace. 

SAJVISTHANAKA   [without] 

Stand  back,  all  of  you;  not  a  step  further.  I  go  alone. 
[He  appears,  extravagantly  and  awkwardly  overdressed, 
carrying  his  heavy  sword.  He  disregards  charadutta, 
and  holds  out  his  hands  towards  vasantasena.]  Vasan- 
tasena! 

r.\mbha 

His  Royal  Highness  is  speaking  to  you. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Why  have  you  fled  away  from  me,  Vasantasena,  like 
the  deer  from  the  hunter?  But  it  is  I  that  am  hunted; 
all  the  dogs  of  the  god  of  love  are  upon  me.  Why  have 
you  fled  from  me?  You  and  sleep  have  fled  from  me 
together,  and  I  dream  by  day,  and  if  I  see  you,  you 
flee  away  from  me  like  a  dream  when  one  awakens. 

[105] 


THE  TOY   CART 

RAMBHA 

The  prince  is  speaking  to  you,  Vasantasena. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Why  have  you  fled  from  me  like  a  peacock  when  her 
tail  is  in  full  feather  in  summer,  and  like  a  crane  when 
she  hears  the  thunder  in  the  clouds,  and  like  a  jackal 
hunted  by  dogs?  Your  feet  that  were  made  for 
dancing  have  fled  swiftly,  like  a  snake  from  the  king 
of  the  birds.  I  could  outstrip  the  wind  in  its  course, 
and  shall  I  not  overtake  so  delicate  a  flyer?  Your 
ear-rings  tinkled  at  your  ears  like  a  lute  played  swiftly 
by  a  master.  But  I  have  come  upon  you,  and  no  man 
can  take  you  out  of  my  power. 

CHARADUTTA 

My  lord! 

SAMSTHANAKA 

The  king,  Vasantasena,  is  my  brother-in-law;  the 
king  will  do  anything  that  I  ask  of  him;  he  will  give 
me  any  of  his  treasures;  you  have  only  to  ask  of  me, 
and  I  will  give  you  everything  you  want. 

RAMBIIA 

Do  you  hear  that,  Vasantasena?  Listen  to  what  he 
is  saying,  my  daughter. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

How  is  it  that  I,  who  am  the  king's  brother-in-law, 

have  to  beg  and  not  to  command?     How  have  you 

turned  your  eyes  from  ray  face,  which  is  as  the  sun 

[106] 


THE  TOY  CART 

upon  the  face  of  the  master  of  this  house,  which  is  as 
the  moon  in  her  last  quarter?  And  you,  sir,  if  you 
will  deliver  this  woman  into  my  hands,  without  dis- 
pute, her  delivery  shall  be  rewarded  with  my  most 
particular  regard ;  but  if  you  will  not,  then  count  upon 
my  eternal  and  exterminating  enmity. 

VASANTASENA  tums  and  lookfi  at  charadutta 

CHARADUTTA 

My  lord,  you  have  honoured  me  with  your  presence 
in  my  humble  abode;  be  pleased  to  remove  your 
shadow  from  my  door.     It  is  too  protracted  an  honour. 

SAMSTHANAKA  {retreating} 

The  dog  is  disloyal.  He  shall  suffer  for  it.  Sir,  no 
haste.     [He  retreats.} 

MAITREYA  comes  towards  him  from  the  side  vyiih  a 

threatening  aspect. 
Vasantasena,  what  have  you  done  to  me?     You  have 
bewitched  me. 

RAMBHA  [hobbling  after  him~] 

Stop,  stop,  kind  sir.  She  is  not  in  her  proper  mind. 
If  you  will  only  listen  to  me,  my  lord! 

MAITREYA   [to    SAMSTHANAKA] 

Have  you  any  more  speeches  to  make? 

SAMSTHANAKA  [looking  at  him  with  contempt} 
I  do  not  see  you.     Wait,  Vasantasena! 
[107] 


THE  TOY  CART 

He  goes  out,  followed  by  rambha,  who  plucks  at  his 
sleeve,  and  by  maitreya,  who  stops  outside  the  door. 

VASANTASENA  [dropping oTi  her  knees  before  charadutta] 
You  have  saved  more  than  my  life. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  have  but  opened  my  door.  It  is  you  who  have  come 
in,  and  you  are  Vasantasena,  you  have  brought  the 
spring,  like  an  army  with  banners. 

VASANTASENA 

I  am  unworthy  to  come  under  your  roof. 

CHARADUTTA 

It  is  because  I  made  an  offering  this  morning  to  my 
household  gods  that  they  have  brought  you  under  it. 

VASANTASENA 

I  have  found  safety,  but  to  remain  longer  would  be 
too  dangerous  for  me. 

CHARADUTTA 

My  poverty  is  my  safeguard. 

VASANTASENA 

Alas!  sir,  I  would  that  it  sheltered  you  not. 

MAITREYA  [at  the  door'] 

Yes,  if  you  have  done  whispering  to  your  fine  prince, 

and  can  leave  his  company  for  ours,  come  in,  madam. 

They  both  come  in,  and  rambiia  stands  talking  to 

MAITREYA,  and  then  hobbles  back  to  vasantasena. 

[1081 


THE  TOY  CART 

RAMBHA 

Why  cannot  all  folks  live  peaceably  with  one  another? 
I,  who  am  no  longer  in  my  first  youth  and  full  maturity 
of  beauty,  have  in  my  time  known  many  men,  and 
some  of  them  princes;  but  never  have  two  men  come 
to  blows  in  my  name!  Conciliate  them,  I  say  to  my 
daughter,  conciliate  them  all:  one  never  knows  who 
may  be  king  to-morrow.  Vasantasena,  the  good 
excellent  prince  has  gone  away  in  a  great  rage,  and  I 
know  not  what  he  would  have  done  if  I  had  not  fol- 
lowed and  spoken  peaceably  to  him.  Oh!  we  are  all 
undone,  and  it  is  this  kind  gentleman  who  took  us  in 
(the  seven  mouths  of  hell  chew  him  up!)  that  will  be 
the  means  of  bringing  trouble  upon  us. 

CHARADUTTA 

It  is  by  such  princes  that  kingdoms  fall.  I  am  glad 
to  know  myself  his  enemy.  But  no  harm  shall  come 
on  you.  In  my  house  you  are  safe,  and  I  will  not 
leave  you  till  you  are  safe  in  your  own  house. 

RAMBHA 

Listen,  my  daughter,  how  kind  the  gentleman  is.  I 
think,  sir,  you  have  seen  better  days.'' 

VASANTASENA 

Mother! 

CHARADUTTA 

A  better  night  I  have  never  seen.  But  I  forget  my 
duties.  I  have  but  poor  entertainment  to  offer  you, 
but,  such  as  I  have  —  Radanika ! 

MAID  comes  from  the  inner  room,  bringing  glasses 
which  she  offers  and  then  stands  in  a  corner  of  the  room. 

[1091 


THE  TOY  CART 

VASANTASENA 

Sir,  we  were  on  our  way  homeward,  and  have  stayed 
too  long  already. 

CHABADUTTA 

I  pray  you,  stay. 

VASANTASENA 

Sir,  I  pray  you,  let  us  go. 

MAITREYA 

Very  pretty  on  both  sides;  and  whilst  you  two  stand 
there,  nodding  your  heads  to  one  another  like  a  field 
of  long  grass,  permit  me  to  bend  mine,  in  the  manner 
of  a  young  camel  with  stiff  knees,  and  request  you  will 
be  pleased  to  hold  yourselves  upright  again. 

RAMBHA 

A  wise  fellow.     But  we  must  indeed  be  going. 

VASANTASENA 

If  your  friend  here  would  vouchsafe  us  the  defence  of 
his  company  on  our  way  home. 

CHARADUTTA 

Maitreya,  attend  the  ladies. 

MAITREYA 

You  will  do  hotter  to  go  with  them  yourself,  sir,  for 
I  truly  fear  that  these  court  libertines  would  have  no 
more  respect  for  my  person  than  dogs  have  for  a  meat- 
offering in  the  streets, 

[110] 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHARADUTTA 

I  will  attend  them,  but  meanwhile  see  that  torches 
are  prepared. 

MAITREYA 

Ho,  Vardhamana!     [_He  comes  in.]     Light  the  torches. 

SERVANT 

How  are  they  to  be  hghted  without  oil? 

MAITREYA    [to   CHARADUTTA   aside'] 

To  say  the  truth,  sir,  our  torches  are  like  harlots: 
they  shine  not  in  poor  men's  houses. 

CHARADUTTA 

Silence!  I  will  go  and  see  to  them  myself.  I  crave 
leave  of  absence,  that  I  may  prepare  for  your  safe 
conveying.     Come  with  me,  Maitreya. 

They  go  out  into  the  court,     rambha  gets  up  and 

prowls  about,  looking  at  everything. 

RAMBHA 

Not  enough  here,  my  daughter,  to  look  decent  on  the 
walls  of  a  kitchen-wench.  Poor  man,  and  this  is  what 
you  would  come  to! 

VASANTASENA 

Poor  man! 

From  behind  the  curtain  over  a  door  is  heard  the 
voice  of  a  child  wailing  out,  "I  don't  want  it,"  and 
throwing  something  on  the  ground. 

[1111 


THE  TOY  CART 

RAMBHA 

A  child!     [To  the  maid.]     Has  your  master  children? 

MAIDSERVANT 

One  son,  madam. 

VASANTASENA 

Then  he  is  not  poor.     Oh,  let  me  see  him. 

The  child  'pushes  aside  the  curtain,  and  comes  in 
crying  and  dragging  a  clay  toy-cart  by  the  wheel. 
MAID  runs  up  to  him. 

MAIDSERVANT 

Run  away,  Rohasena,  and  play  with  your  cart. 

ROHASENA 

I  don't  want  this  cart;  it's  only  clay;  I  want  the  gold 
one. 

VASANTASENA 

Poor  little  fellow! 

MAIDSERVANT 

And  where  are  we  to  get  the  gold,  my  little  man? 
Wait  till  your  father  is  rich  again;  then  he  will  buy 
you  a  gold  one. 

ROHASENA 

I  want  a  gold  one  now. 

VASANTASENA 

Come  here  and  kiss  me,  my  child.  (She  takes  him  in 
her  arms  and  kisses  him.)     How  like  his  father  he  is! 

[112] 


THE  TOY  CART 


MAIDSERVANT 


He  is  not  only  like  him  in  face;  but  is  just  the  same  in 
disposition.  He  is  the  sweetest  child  in  the  world. 
His  father  worships  him. 

VASANTASENA 

Why  is  he  crying?  Don't  cry,  little  man.  What  are 
you  crying  for.^* 

ROHASENA 

For  my  cart.     I  don't  want  this  cart. 

VASANTASENA 

What  does  he  mean? 

MAIDSERVANT 

Our  neighbour's  child  had  a  cart  of  gold,  and  the  child 
here  used  to  play  with  it.  Now  the  other  has  taken  it 
away,  and  he  wants  it  back.  I  made  him  this  one  of 
clay,  but  he  keeps  saying:   "I  want  the  gold  one!" 

VASANTASENA 

Is  it  not  terrible  that  a  child  should  want  anything  and 
not  have  it?  I  thought  that  children  had  everything 
that  they  wanted.  And  here  is  a  little  child  who 
suffers  already  because  another  is  more  fortunate 
than  he  is.  The  fates  of  men  are  like  water-drops 
trembling  on  the  leaves  of  a  lotus.  But  for  a  child! 
I  did  not  know  there  was  so  much  cruelty  in  the  world. 
Child,  child,  don't  cry,  and  you  shall  have  a  gold  cart. 

[113] 


THE  TOY   CART 

ROHASENA 

Radanika,  who  is  this  lady?     Is  she  my  new  mother? 
VASANTASENA  looks  on  the  ground  in  silence. 

MAIDSERVANT 

No,  no,  this  isn't  your  new  mother. 

ROHASENA 

I  thought  she  might  be,  Radanika;  but  then  how  could 
it  be  my  mother  when  she  wears  such  fine  things? 

CHARADUTTA   [^OUtside^ 

Radanika!  you  must  come  here, 

MAIDSERVANT  goes  hurriedly  into  the  court. 

VASANTASENA 

O,  my  child,  you  do  not  know  what  pitiful  things  you 
are  saying.  [II alj -laughing  and  half-crying,  takes  off 
her  jewels  one  by  one,  and  holds  them  up  to  the  child,  and 
then  drops  them  into  the  ioy-cari.~\  Here  is  a  little  gold 
chain  for  you,  and  I  will  take  this  long  chain  off  my 
neck. 

RAMBHA 

Vasantasena ! 

VASANTASENA 

Do  you  see  this  bracelet?  A  King  of  the  West  gave 
that  to  me. 

RAMBHA 

Vasantasena!  the  king's  bracelet! 
[1141 


THE  TOY   CART 

VASANTASENA 

But  I  don't  care  for  it:  I  give  it  to  you.  And  here  is 
another,  that  was  given  me  by  somebody  I  loved  very 
much;  but  I  don't  care  for  it  any  longer.  You  shall 
have  that  too. 

RAMBHA 

Vasantasena!  the  bracelet  of  Rama.  Are  you  beside 
yourself ! 

VASANTASENA 

Silence,  mother!  And  here  is  a  diamond  that  came 
from  deep  under  the  earth  in  Africa,  and  this  pearl 
was  brought  up  by  a  diver  from  a  bottomless  sea. 
You  shall  have  them  both. 

RAMBHA 

All  our  treasures !     O,  Vasantasena ! 

VASANTASENA 

They  are  all  yours,  because  you  are  a  child,  and  Chara- 
dutta's,  and  because  you  are  unhappy.  Now  I  am 
really  your  mother. 

ROHASENA 

Why  are  you  crying?  I  won't  take  them,  because  you 
are  crying. 

VASANTASENA 

Now,  I  am  not  crying  any  more.  Look,  now  your  cart 
is  more  beautiful  than  any  gold  cart;  it  is  more  beauti- 
ful than  any  cart  in  the  world.  Go  and  play  now, 
child. 

ROHASENA  and  RADANiKA  go  iiito  the  inner  room. 

[115] 


THE  TOY  CART 

EAMBHA 

Vasantasena,  you  are  foolish  and  \\ncked.  You  have 
given  away  treasures  as  if  they  were  trinkets.  And 
I  know  why  you  have  done  it. 

VASANTASENA  [with  suddeu  severity'] 

Mother,  you  will  know  nothing.  Not  a  word  of  this. 
Hark,  they  are  coming  back.  I  will  cover  myself  with 
this  cloak,  it  is  Charadutta's,  it  is  like  a  garden  of 
jasmine. 

CHARADUTTA  and  MAITREYA  enter  with  torches. 

CHARADUTTA 

We  have  found  but  little  oil  for  the  torches,  but  the 
moon  is  at  the  full,  and  all  the  stars  wait  upon  Vasan- 
tasena. 

VASANTASENA  followed  bij  her  mother,  moves  towards 
the  door,  charadutta  and  maitreya  stand  with 
their  torches  lifted. 


CURTAIN 


IIG] 


THE  TOY  CART 


ACT  II 

A  room  in  vasantasena's  house,  luxuriantly  fur- 
nished, until  an  inner  door,  covered  until  curtains,  lead- 
ing into  the  house.  A  large  door  on  the  left  leads  from 
the  street,  through  inner  courts.  Near  this  door  are  tables, 
at  one  of  which  three  men  are  playing  dice  with  cowries. 

GAMBLER 

No  more  dice  for  me!  How  many  times  am  I  to  be 
ruined  by  this  evil  fate  that  shakes  out  always  odd  for 
even  and  even  for  odd.  A  curse  on  all  cowries! 
[Throics  down  the  dice.~\ 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

It  is  always  the  next  throw  that  brings  luck. 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

So  you  say  when  you  have  been  winning.  How  am 
I  to  pay  you  if  I  let  you  win  any  more.'* 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

A  gambler  asks  that!  As  if  this  man  did  not  know 
every  cunning  short  cut  to  fortune!  How  many  parts 
have  you  played  already,  O  player  at  all  games,  under 
all  disguises 

FIRST    G.UIBLER 

No  more  dice  for  me! 

[117] 


THE  TOY  CART 


SECOND   GAMBLER 


Dice  and  women  never  played  any  man  false,  unless 
the  man  first  played  false  with  dice  and  women. 


FIRST   GAMBLER 


Where  is  the  man  who  has  never  played  false  with 
either? 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

I  know  such  a  man,  and  he  has  lost  deeper  than  any 
gamester. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Who  is  the  man.'' 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Charadutta. 

THIRD   GAMBLER 

Charadutta  does  not  need  to  suffer  from  dice  or  women; 
the  gods  are  against  him,  and  against  the  gods  there 
is  no  remedy. 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

What  has  befallen  him? 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

He  was  the  richest  man  in  the  city,  and  now  he  is 
penniless  and  witliout  more  than  a  single  friend,  who 
sticks  to  him  like  a  poor  man's  dog;  he  was  married, 
and  his  wife  is  dead;  he  was  a  good  servant  to  the 
king,  and  his  place  has  been  taken  from  him.  What 
dice  have  ever  thrown  such  a  fortune? 

[1181 


THE  TOY   CART 

THIRD    GAMBLER 

If  I  hear  rightly,  it  is  his  own  bounty  that  has  ruined 
him,  and  no  fault  of  his.  He  was  eaten  up  by  hungry 
friends. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Is  it  easier  to  bear  chastisement  because  one  is  inno- 
cent?    Now,  if  it  had  been  our  friend  here.? 


FraST   GAMBLER 

I  make  no  pretences,  and  the  gods  have  little  enough 
need  to  concern  themselves  with  my  doings.  What 
need  have  they,  when  I  am  here,  and  with  you,  and 
with  these  accursed  cowries?  And  are  any  of  us  here 
except  by  the  aid  and  for  the  profit  of  the  old  mer- 
cenary mother  of  Vasantasena,  the  mountainous 
Rambha? 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Say  nothing  against  the  mother  of  Vasantasena. 
But  for  her,  as  you  say,  should  w^e  be  here?  Vasan- 
tasena is  adorable  to  all,  and  it  is  the  mother  who 
chooses  and  approves  of  the  adorers. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Is  there  anything  more  foolish  in  the  world  than  to 
spend  money  on  Vasantasena?  She  has  never  cared 
for  a  man  in  her  life,  and  there  is  not  a  man  who  has 
seen  her  dance  who  would  not  give  his  life  for  her. 

THIRD   GAMBLER   \jO  SECOND   GAMBLEr] 

Except  your  impeccable  Charadutta. 
[1191 


THE  TOY  CART 


FIRST    GAMBLER 


I  tell  you  if  Vasantasena  did  but  lift  the  corner  of  her 
veil  before  him,  your  sober  Charadutta,  your  model 
of  all  the  virtues  (he  is  wise,  he  won't  dice  with  you), 
Charadutta,  I  say,  would  be  kissing  her  feet  before 
the  veil  was  safely  back  over  her  eyes. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Charadutta  would  die  rather  than  enter  this  house, 
or  look  into  the  eyes  under  that  veil. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

AVhat  will  you  wager? 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Ten  suvamas.     Pick  up  the  cowries  that  you  threw 

on  the  ground. 

GAMBLER  piclcs  wp  the  cowries.  At  this  moment 
vasantasena's  MAID  looks  anxiously  through  the 
curtain. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Wait.  Here  is  Mandanika!  Perhaps  Vasantasena  is 
coming  at  last.     Wliere  is  your  mistress? 

MAID  \jcoming  tn] 

That  is  w^hat  I  want  to  know.  She  is  with  her  mother, 
and  where  she  has  led  her  mother  no  one  can  know. 
Now  it's  here,  now  it's  there,  always  as  the  whim  of 
the  moment  takes  her.  I  had  to  put  all  her  best  clothes 
and  her  best  jewels  on  her!  The  gods  send  her  back 
safe,  these  late  thieving  evenings! 
[120] 


THE  TOY  CART 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Has  Prince  Samsthanaka  been  here  lately? 

MATT) 

Lately?  Not  a  day,  not  an  hour  passes  but  he,  or 
his  messengers,  or  his  body-servants  with  flowers,  or 
his  house-servants  with  heavy  baskets,  are  here  wait- 
ing for  answers  that  never  come. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

The  prince  is  not  used  to  wait  for  an  answer. 

MAID 

Here  he  must  learn  it  then,  for  Vasantasena  will  have 
none  of  him,  though  he  is  next  to  the  king,  and  a  man 
of  great  valour  and  learning. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Valour  and  learning,  Mandanika?  Who  has  told  you 
this  of  him? 

MAID 

He  told  me  himself.  But  listen,  I  hear  footsteps. 
Someone  is  coming.     Is  it  Vasantasena? 

She  rushes  to  the  door,  which  opens,  and  rambha 

comes  in,  pvffing  and  blowing. 
Where  .  .  .? 

rambha 

Here,  of  course.     Take  her  to  her  room  and  help  her 

to  change  ber  dress. 

vasantasena,  veiled  and  closely  wrapped  in  chara- 
dutta's  cloak,  passes  across  the  stage,  and  goes  in 
at  an  inner  door,  followed  by  mandianka. 
[121] 


THE  TOY  CART 

Come,   Charadutta,  you   must   come   in:    no   denial. 

Come. 

CHARADUTTA  enters  slowly,  and  as  if  unwillingly, 
followed  by  maitreya,  icho  gazes  curiously  around. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Charadutta! 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

What  was  the  wager.''     In  any  case,  I  have  won  it. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

This  passes  behef,  and  must  be  confirmed  by  the  dice 
before  I  shall  believe  it. 

RAMBHA 

If  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  sit  down.  These  gentlemen 
care  only  for  dice  and  conversation,  and  will  not  dis- 
turb us. 

CHARADUTTA 

We  have  brought  you  home  in  safety:  suffer  us  to 
retire. 

MAITREYA  [ivMspering^ 
Already? 

RAMBHA 

My  daughter  will  not  allow  it.  You  are  to  sit  down, 
and  she  will  with  be  you  in  a  moment.  Ho,  Pallava, 
Madhavika ! 

Women  come  in  and  offer  refreshments  to  chara- 
dutta and  MAITREYA. 

f  1221 


THE   TOY   CART 

MAITREYA   [tO   CHABADUTTa] 

Is  it  a  house  or  a  palace?  Have  you  ever  seen  so  many 
useless  and  beautiful  things  in  a  single  room? 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

Though  Charadutta  is  here,  he  would  sooner  be  any- 
where else  by  the  look  in  his  eyes,  and  the  uneasiness 
of  his  fingers. 

MAITREYA 

Did  I  not  tell  you?  Did  I  tell  you  half?  I  should 
take  you  away  from  here  at  once,  but  the  fact  is  I  am 
far  too  well  off  myself  to  think  of  getting  up  from  these 
heavenly  cushions  and  setting  down  this  nectar  of 
Sudra. 

RAMBHA    [to   charadutta]] 

Your  friend  does  more  justice  to  our  humble  hospitality 
than  you  do. 

CHARADUTTA 

My  eyes  are  feasted  with  colour;  what  other  sense 
need  feast? 

MAITREYA 

If  there  should  only  be  music  in  addition  to  all  these 
luxuries  of  the  senses,  my  poor  friend  is  lost  for  ever. 

RAMBHA 

Ah,  dear  sir,  if  you  knew  the  cost  of  the  least  small 
thing  in  the  place.  Every  one  of  them  bought  with 
the  best  money.  There  remains  little  enough  to  one 
who,  like  myself,  has  to  keep  the  house,  as  they  say, 
going.     And   Vasantasena,   who   is   so  free   with   her 

[123] 


THE  TOY   CART 

costliest  jewels,  always  giving  them  away,  giving  away 
more  than  she  gets,  and  to  those  who  can  have  no 
pretence  to  deserve  them. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  once  knew  what  pleasure  it  was  to  give  gifts.  Now 
I  can  only  envy  her. 

RAMBHA 

For  that  you  have  no  good  reason.  She  gives  them 
away,  throws  them  away,  as  if  jewels  were  meant  for 
the  poor. 

CHARADUTTA 

The  poor  have  rarely  the  chance  of  knowing  that  such 
things  exist.  To  see  them,  worn  by  Vasantasena,  is 
riches  enough  to  a  poor  man. 

RAMBHA 

How  can  you  talk  of  jewels? 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Do  you  see  how  blackly  the  old  witch  looks  into  his 
eyes,  mumbling  words  that  she  doesn't  say  to  him? 
Charadutta  is  no  welcome  guest  here. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Wait  till  Vasantasena  returns.  Who  knows?  I  have 
won  from  you. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

I  was  not  looking.     Show  me  the  dice. 
[1241 


THE  TOY    CART 

CHARADUTTA 

I  must  bid  farewell  to  Vasantasena. 

RAMBHA 

Tell  Vasantasena  that  Charadutta  is  going. 
One  of  the  women  goes  into  the  inner  room. 

MAITREYA  [rising  slowly] 

Charadutta,  I  am  sure  it  would  be  better  to  go  before 
she  comes  back.  We  have  time  to  go  before  she  comes 
back. 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

Show  me  the  dice,  I  say. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Here  are  the  numbers. 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

Give  me  the  dice  into  my  hand! 

CHARADUTTA  [with  disgust,  rising] 
What  is  this  angry  talk.^ 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

You  cheated. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

What  do  you  mean.' 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

Give  me  the  dice.     Your  dice  were  loaded. 
[125] 


THE  TOY  CART 

THIRD    GAMBLER 

It  is  true.     He  has  been  cheating. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

You  insult  me. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Here  are  proofs.  Give  me  back  all  that  you  have  won 
from  me,  or  I  will  call  the  officer  of  justice,  and  you 
shall  be  banished  from  the  kingdom. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Let  me  go. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Give  me  back  my  money. 

THIRD   GAMBLER 

Give  him  back  the  ten  suvarnas. 

In  the  midst  of  the  huhhuh  the  curtains  over  the  inner 
room  are  thrust  hack,  and  vasantasena,  dressed 
as  a  dancer,  in  gorgeous  clothes,  is  seen  standing, 
motionless,  looking  with  disdain  at  the  gamblers, 
the  face  of  the  maid  visible  over  her  shoulder.  She 
stands  there  without  a  word,  until  suddenly  the 
gamblers  catch  sight  of  her,  and  become  silent.  She 
comes  slowly  into  the  room,  with  scornful  eyes. 

VASANTASENA 

Gentlemen,  this  is  my  house,  and  disputes  are  settled 

in  the  street. 

They  go  out  confusedly,  quarrelling,  vasantasena 
turns  apologetically  to  charadutta,  and  then  says 
bitterly  to  her  mother: 

[126] 


THE  TOY  CART 

These  were  your  friends!  [To  Charadutia.~\  My  lord, 
may  this  be  forgotten? 

CHARADUTTA 

It  is  forgotten  already.  But  I  must  not  wait  here 
another  moment. 

VASANTASENA 

Then  you  do  not  forget. 

CHARADUTTA 

You  must  not  think  that.  A  duty  calls  me;  I  must  go 
back. 

VASANTASENA 

You  are  my  guest.  I  have  only  music  and  dancing  to 
welcome  you;  but  do  you  not  love  music.'^  Nay,  be 
seated.     {They  sit  down.2 

CHARADUTTA 

More  than  anything  in  the  world. 

VASANTASENA 

I  love  music  so  much  that  my  body  follows  it  wherever 
it  goes.  When  I  dance,  it  is  to  say  more  clearly,  and 
in  my  own  voice,  what  music  says.  We  will  have 
music,  and  I  will  dance  for  you.     Call  in  the  musicians. 

MAID  goes  into   the  inner  part  of  the  house  and 

returns  jrresently  with  Musicians. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  have  often  dreamed  of  a  dance  which  should  be  more 
articulate,  more  human,  than  music:  dance  that  dance 
to  me,  Vasantasena,  for  I  have  never  seen  it. 

[1271 


THE  TOY    CART 

RAMBHA 

He  must  never  see  it. 

MAITREYA 

Now  she  will  dance  the  heart  out  of  his  body. 

VASANTASENA 

Have  you  never  thought  how  we,  whose  business  is 
love,  have  learned  to  speak  without  speech,  to  sing 
without  words,  to  express  every  emotion  by  a  gesture? 
They  teach  us  to  dance,  and  we  dance  as  they  teach 
us;  but  there  is  something  which  no  master  can  ever 
teach  us. 

CHAKADUTTA 

Have  you  learned  that  lesson  which  no  master  can 
teach  you.'* 

VASANTASENA 

I  am  beginning  to  learn  it.  I  will  show  you  how  it 
begins.  But  I  will  sing  first,  because  words  follow 
music  the  first  part  of  the  way.     {^Sings'] 

How  fair  and  how  pleasant  art  thou, 

O  love,  for  delights! 

As  the  apple  upon  the  bough 

Thy  sweetness  invites. 

A  fountain  of  gardens,  a  well 

Of  water  alone; 

A  })omegranate  fruit  and  the  smell 

Of  Lebanon. 

Awake,  O  north  wind,  and  blow 

On  my  garden,  O  south! 

What  spices  are  these  that  outflow 

From  the  kiss  of  her  mouth? 

[128] 


THE  TOY  CART 

O  vineyard,  she  is  thy  vine: 
What  are  aloes  and  myrrh? 
Her  love  is  much  better  than  wine: 
What  is  like  unto  her? 

CHARADUTTA 

A  lover  wrote  it,  and  when  you  sing  it,  it  makes  every 
man  a  lover. 

VASANTASENA 

Shall  I  sing  you  or  say  you  out  of  love  then,  and  in  a 
song  of  the  same  singer?  But  this  is  better  for  speak- 
ing than  for  singing.     [_She  repeats  a  song  against  lover\ 

There  is  a  thing  in  the  world  that  has  been  since  the 

world  began: 
The  hatred  of  man  for  woman,  the  hatred  of  woman 

for  man. 
When  shall  this  thing  be  ended?     When  love  ends, 

hatred  ends. 
For  love  is  a  chain  between  foes,  and  love  is  a  sword 

between  friends. 
Shall  there  never  be  love  without  hatred?     Not  since 

the  world  began. 
Until  man  teach  honour  to  woman,  and  woman  teach 

pity  to  man. 

O  that  a  man  might  live  his  life  for  a  little  tide 
Without  this  rage  in  his  heart,  and  without  this  foe 

at  his  side! 
He  could  eat  and  sleep  and  be  merry  and  forget,  he 

could  live  well  enough. 
Were  it  not  for  this  thing  that  remembers  and  hates, 

and  that  hurts  and  is  love. 

[H91 


THE  TOY  CART 

But  peace  has  not  been  in  the  world  since  love  and 

the  world  began, 
For  the  man  remembers  the  woman,  and  the  woman 

remembers  the  man. 


CHARADUTTA 

That  was  written  by  a  lover  who  knew  all  that  goes 
to  make  up  love,  and  you  say  it  as  if  you  knew  that 
hate  is  the  salt  and  savour  of  love. 


VASANTASENA 

Indeed  I  know  no  such  thing;  but  speak  what  I  have 
learned.  If  I  give  over  words  I  shall  have  to  speak 
truth,  whether  I  will  or  not,  for  the  body  cannot  lie. 

RAMBHA  [^getting  up  and  coming  over  to  }ier~\ 
Vasantasena,  you  are  not  to  dance. 

VASANTASENA 

Mother,  I  am  going  to  dance. 

RAMBHA 

It  kills  you  when  you  dance,  and  there  are  no  princes 
here;  no  one  will  give  you  jewels  and  gold  and  slaves; 
you  dance  with  too  much  of  your  soul  and  body. 

VASANTASENA 

I  am  going  to  dance. 

RAMBHA  hobbles  grumhlingly  bach  to  her  seat. 
\  130  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

MAITREYA 

Now  she  is  going  to  capture  him ;  if  she  dies  for  it  she 
will  capture  him.  Will  not  anything  keep  her  from 
dancing? 

CHARADUTTA 

Dance,  Vasantasena! 

There  is  music;  women  come  forward  strewing 
roses,  and  slowly  vasantasena  rises,  and  steps  for- 
■  ward.  She  dances  a  dance  of  slow  and  various 
movement,  with  pantomime;  at  the  climax  she 
crouches  and  utters  a  wordless  song,  hoarse  and 
harsh,  pathetic  and  terrible,  after  which  she  rises, 
takes  a  step,  and  staggers,  as  if  about  to  fall.  Mean- 
while, CHARADUTTA,  towards  whom  her  whole  dance  is 
directed,  follows  her  motions  in  a  low  voice,  like  an 
undertone  or  accompaniment,  interpreting  them  to 
himself,  and  falling  gradually  into  an  ecstasy, 
always  restrained,  and  as  if  her  soul  were  a  mirror 
to  her  movements.  At  the  last  movement  when  she 
has  come  almost  close  to  him,  he  catches  her  in  his 
arms  as  she  is  about  to  fall. 

CHARADUTTA 

"What  is  she  dancing?  It  is  the  dawn,  it  is  herself, 
it  is  spring,  it  is  an  awakening.  It  is  the  soul  awaken- 
ing to  love.  And  love  comes  as  a  little  child,  and 
she  smiles  to  it,  unafraid.  And  her  eyes  grow  graver, 
and  her  mouth  has  tasted  love  like  a  rose-leaf,  and  the 
scent  of  roses  is  in  her  nostrils.  Now  she  breathes 
more  heavily,  a  delicious  pain  is  in  her  eyes,  and  her 
hands  reach  after  the  hands  of  love.  Her  heart  is 
full  of  a  strange  sorrow,  which  is  sweeter  than  honey; 

[131] 


THE  TOY  CART 

knowledge  comes  into  her  eyes  like  an  anguish  and 
like  a  solace;  her  mouth  thirsts  and  laughs;  and  the 
mouth  of  love  is  upon  her  mouth.  Now  she  knows 
what  joy  is,  and  how  near  joy  is  to  sorrow,  and  a 
langour  of  vehement  peace  envelops  her.  She  is  a 
garden  of  roses,  she  is  the  mystical  rose  of  a  garden 
of  roses:  the  rose  is  full  of  joy  in  the  wind  that  is  in 
the  garden  of  spices.  O  rose,  rose,  the  joy  of  love  is 
forever!  But  the  wind  is  turning  chill  and  she  shivers, 
the  rose  trembles  because  the  wind  envelops  her;  and 
the  sun  has  gone  down,  and  it  is  evening,  and  the  night 
begins  to  creep  about  her.  She  suffers  cold,  darkness 
and  shame;  she  that  was  a  flower  has  become  a  weed: 
shall  not  the  weed  be  plucked  up  and  cast  out  in  the 
burning? 

Here  he  is  silent,  while  vasantasena  sings  her  word- 
less song. 
O  fate,  the  sickle  of  time,  cut  not  down  this  weed  that 
was  a  rose.     Sharp  death  is  upon  her,  she  bows  her 
head:   is  it  too  late?     Is  it  too  late  for  love? 

He  rushes  forward  and  catches  her  in  his  arms  as 
she  falls. 

0  Vasantasena,  was  it  all  truth?  Speak,  answer  me, 
Vasantasena ! 

She  lies  with  closed  eyes,  and  he  lays  her  hack  on 
the  cushions,  rambha,  mandajstika,  and  the  women 
hurry  up  and  press  around  her,  holding  salts  and 
scents  to  her. 

RAMBHA 

1  knew  it,  I  knew  it.  She  is  bewitched  and  will  put 
an  end  to  her  own  life  in  mere  joy  and  intoxication. 
I  beg  you,  sir,  to  stand  back:  do  you  wish  literally  to 
kill  her? 

[1321 


THE  TOY  CART 

MAITREYA 

The  tricks  of  a  woman  are  numberless  as  the  hairs  of 
her  head;   what  man  shall  count  them? 

CHARADUTTA 

Awaken,  Vasantasena. 

VAS^vNTASENA  looks  up,  and  puts  her  hands  silently 
on  his. 

RAMBHA  [to  the  singers  and  musicians'] 

You  can  all  go !  They  go  out 

And  now,  my  child,  now  that  you  have  had  your  way, 
and  danced  all  the  breath  out  of  your  body,  perhaps 
you  will  lie  quiet  a  Uttle.  A  servant  enters 

Who  called  you? 

SERVANT 

Madam. 

RAMBHA 

Say  and  go. 

SERVANT 

The  royal  Prince  Samsthanaka  craves  leave  to  enter. 

VASANTASENA  [starting  up] 
Never! 

CHARADUTTA  [dfavnng  his  sword] 

Vasantasena,  give  me  leave! 

VASANTASENA  [catching  hold  of  him] 

No,  no,  you  must  stay  here  till  he  has  gone.  Mother, 
go  to  the  prince  and  tell  him  that  I  will  not  see  him, 

[133] 


THE  TOY  CART 

tell  him  that  I  will  never  see  him,  tell  him  whatever 
will  make  a  man  most  hate  a  woman,  that  he  may  hate 
me  and  be  gone  out  of  my  way  for  ever. 

RAMBHA 

I  will  go  to  him,  my  daughter,  and  he  shall  not  come  in 
to  you,  but  I  shall  not  say  to  him  what  you  have  said 
to  me,  or  the  worse  things  that  you  have  not  said  to 
me.  Come,  Mandanika,  lend  me  your  arm:  I  cannot 
go  quickly  enough  to  where  the  prince  is  waiting. 

She  hobbles  out  through  the  door  on  the  left,  leaning 
on  the  MAID.  MAiTREYA  goes  ostentatiously  to  the 
other  end  of  the  room,  and  turns  his  back  with  a 
shrug  upon  charadutta  and  vasantasena. 

CHARADUTTA 

TMiy  do  you  keep  me  back,  when  with  one  stroke  of  my 
sword  I  would  have  rid  you  of  this  enemy,  and  the 
hand  of  a  tyrant  worse  than  the  tyrant  on  the  throne? 

VASANTASENA 

Would  you  have  done  this  for  me? 

CHARADUTTA 

Let  me  go  and  I  will  do  it. 

VASANTASENA 

Then  I  will  hold  you,  for  now  I  am  more  careful  of 
your  life  than  of  my  own. 

[134] 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHAEADUTTA 

What  is  my  life  worth,  now  that  I  am  a  beggar?  But 
your  life  has  the  power  and  should  have  the  immortality 
of  the  stars. 

VASANTASENA 

Promise  me  that  you  will  be  careful  of  your  life  as  of 
a  thing  whose  loss  I  must  needs  die  of.  Do  not  seek 
Samsthanaka!  Let  all  such  vermin  be:  he  is  a  snake 
whose  poison  is  death,  and  he  seeks  your  life. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  set  my  heel  on  no  snake  that  does  not  lift  up  his 
head  against  me. 

VASANTASENA 

No  more  of  him:  my  mother  will  be  coming  back, 
and  this  moment  will  be  over. 

CHARADUTTA 

Why  should  this  moment  ever  be  over?  If  you  wish 
it,  why  did  you  look  at  me  in  the  garden  of  the  temple 
at  Kamsdeva? 

VASANTASENA 

I  did  not  look  at  you.  Some  god  looked  at  me  through 
your  eyes,  and  my  being  fainted,  as  Sanjna  when  her 
lord,  the  sun,  looked  at  her. 

CHARADUTTA 

You  looked  at  me,  and  I  began  to  remember. 

VASANTASENA 

And  I  to  forget. 

[135] 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHAEADUTTA 

What  would  you  forget? 

VASANTASENA 

Everything.  Every  pleasure,  I  have  no  happiness  to 
forget. 

CHARADUTTA 

You  have  made  happiness  for  others. 

VASANTASENA 

Has  one  of  them  thanked  me? 

CHARADUTTA 

Many  have  loved  you. 

VASANTASENA 

Would  one  of  them  have  thanked  me  for  love?  Of 
all  who  have  come  to  me  with  gifts  and  tears,  saying 
"Love  me  or  I  die,"  is  there  one  who  would  have 
rejoiced  if  I  had  given  him  all  myself,  all  my  love? 
That  is  a  gift  much  too  costly  for  any  man  to  accept. 

CHARADUTTA 

Vasantasena,  give  me  that  gift. 

VASANTASENA 

No,  I  will  be  kinder  to  you.  For  love  of  you  I  must 
not  let  you  love  me. 

CHARADUTTA 

You  have  called  me;  first  your  eyes  spoke  to  me,  and 
I  came,  not  knowing  why  I  came;    now  you  have 

f  136  ] 


THE  TOY  CART 

danced  to  me,  and  your  body  has  spoken,  and  I  know 
all  your  heart.  You  have  thrown  over  me  a  net  that 
you  cannot  loosen. 

VASANTASENA 

0  Charadutta,  is  this  truth,  or  is  it  nothing  but  music? 

CHARADUTTA 

The  music  is  over,  the  dance  has  spoken;  it  is  my 
heart  that  you  hear  now.  Will  you  tell  me  that  you 
do  not  love  me? 

VASANTASENA 

1  wall  not  tell  you.  When  I  would  say  the  name  of 
another,  why  does  the  name  of  Charadutta  come  to 
my  lips?  When  I  speak  to  my  maid,  and  know  not 
what  I  have  told  her,  and  she  smiles,  why  is  it  that  I 
am  so  absent?  W'hy  is  it  that  I  am  as  an  altar  on 
which  a  perpetual  fire  has  been  lighted? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  am  a  beggar,  and  have  no  gifts  to  bring.  What  will 
you  ask  of  me  that  I  may  do  for  you? 

VASANTASENA 

Will  you  put  out  the  perpetual  fire?  Many  waters 
cannot  put  it  out.  Will  you  give  me  forgetfulness? 
Many  bowls  of  sleep  cannot  drink  down  memory. 
Will  you  bring  back  the  scent  into  dead  roses,  and 
bring  back  the  honey  to  the  honeycomb,  and  the 
grapes  to  the  vineyard  where  they  have  been  plucked 
and  trodden  in  the  winepress,  and  the  feet  of  men  are 

[137] 


THE  TOY  CART 

red  with  them,  and  their  eyes  drunken?  I  have  been 
the  rose  of  the  garden,  and  the  honey  in  tlie  honey- 
comb, and  the  grapes  in  the  vineyard. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  am  a  beggar,  but  I  can  give  you  all  this.  Love  is 
like  light,  and  light  washes  the  earth. 

VASANTASENA 

I  thirst,  but  have  I  not  drunk  wine,  and  is  there  more 
wine  in  the  world  that  shall  slake  this  thirst  in  me? 
Oh,  stranger,  if  I  could  be  the  friend  of  any  man,  if 
I  could  love  and  not  destroy,  if  I  could  humble  myself, 
if  I  could  believe  and  forget,  and  if  all  that  I  have  been 
could  be  forgotten,  then  would  Vasantasena  be  the 
beggar  at  the  feet  of  Charadutta. 

CHARADUTTA  [kneeling'^ 
The  beggar  at  her  feet! 

VASANTASENA 

Rise,  Charadutta! 

The  MAID  comes  in  hurriedly  and  whispers  in  her 
ear.  charadutta  rises,  maitreya  comes  for- 
ward and  touches  him. 

maitreya 

I  have  been  shutting  my  ears  so  long  that  I  am  only 
now  able  to  realize  that  we  are  to  go.  I  will  accompany 
you,  Charadutta. 

charadutta  [vaguely'] 
Are  we  going? 

[138] 


THE  TOY  CART 


VASANTASENA 


Go  now.  Alas!  you  must  go.  But  to-morrow,  meet 
me  —  to-morrow  at  noon  in  the  old  flower  garden.  I 
do  not  know  if  I  can  live  so  long. 


CHARADUTTA 

Death  shall  not  delay  me. 

MAITREYA 

Remember ! 

CHARADUTTA 

What? 

MAITREYA 

Aryaka! 

CHARADUTTA  \jO   VASANTASENa] 

If  a  thing  stronger  than  death  delays  me,  and  I  do  not 
come,  believe  me,  wait  for  me.     I  will  surely  come. 

VASANTASENA 

I  will  believe  you.     I  will  wait  for  you. 

MAID  takes  CHARADUTTA  and  MAITREYA  to  the  outer 
door  and  returns  hurriedly  to  vasantasena. 


MAID 

Your  mother  has  been  talking  smoothly  to  the  prince 
all  this  time:  she  has  taken  him  aside  there  [_she  points 
to  the  outer  court^  so  that  he  should  not  meet  Chara- 
dutta;  but  she  will  not  be  able  to  hold  him  back  much 
longer;  he  grows  madder  and  madder,  and  will  see 
you  if  he  puts  us  all  to  the  sword. 

[139] 


THE  TOY  CART 

VASANTASENA  [with  Concentrated  rage~\ 

He  shall  see  me.     Let  him  come  in. 

The  MAID  goes  out  and  returns  ^presently,  followed 
by  SAMSTHANAKA  and  kambha,  who  goes  aside. 

SAMSTHANAKA. 

I  am  not  angry  with  you,  Vasantasena,  though  you 
have  kept  me  waiting  like  a  dog  upon  your  threshold. 
I  have  the  powder  of  the  kingdom  in  my  hands;  the 
power  of  my  brother-in-law,  who  is  the  king;  but  I 
wait  at  your  door,  Vasantasena,  like  a  dog  upon  the 
threshold.  \Miy  have  you  kept  me  waiting  while 
you  practised  the  songs  that  are  meant  for  my  enchant- 
ment? I  heard  your  more  than  celestial  voice.  You 
were  singing  a  song  I  have  never  heard  before. 

VASANTASENA 

I  was  singing  a  new  song. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Sing  it  to  me,  Vasantasena?  I  not  only  love  singing, 
but  I  myself,  though  born  royal,  and  able  to  command 
all  singers  of  music,  I  also  sing.  My  slaves  prepare 
for  me  dishes  fried  in  oil,  and  seasoned  with  assafoetida: 
that  is  your  only  diet  for  a  sweet  voice.  Another 
time  I  will  sing  to  you,  but  now  sing  your  song  to  me, 
Yasantasena. 

VASANTASENA 

I  will  not  sing  my  new  song  to  you. 

[140] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

How  is  that?  I  could  command  you.  You  are  no 
better  than  a  slave,  a  dancing  woman,  a  singer;  I 
could  have  you  beaten  if  I  liked.  I  could  have  you 
beaten  until  you  sang  whatever  I  wanted.  There  is 
nothing  I  could  not  do.  But  I  will  not  even  com- 
mand you.     I  will  entreat  you. 

VASANTASENA 

It  is  useless. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

You  say  it  is  useless  and  you  are  a  woman.  What  is 
a  woman  when  she  speaks.'*  She  is  a  bough  in  the 
wind.  What  are  women  such  as  you  but  a  creeper 
that  grows  by  the  roadside,  and  the  crow  and  peacock 
perch  on  the  same  branch.'*  Are  you  not  free  to  all 
men,  and  am  I  not  a  man  as  well  as  a  prince.'*  If  it  is 
because  of  Charadutta  that  you  put  me  aside,  remem- 
ber that  Charadutta  is  a  beggar,  and,  if  a  beggar  stands 
in  my  light,  he  dies. 

VASANTASENA 

You  have  no  power  over  Charadutta. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  gave  way  to  him  in  his  own  house,  because  every  man 
is  king  in  his  own  house,  and  I  will  do  nothing  against 
the  law.  Am  I  not  the  law.^  But  I  am  here  that  I 
may  tell  you  for  the  last  time  tliat  I  will  suffer  no  man 
to  come  between  us.     "N^'liat  I  will  becomes  mine. 

[Ul] 


THE  TOY  CART 

VAS.^^TASENA 

What  is  it  that  you  will  here,  prince? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Your  love. 

VASANTASENA 

I  have  given  it  away.     Charadutta  has  taken  it. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

The  beggar,  Charadutta?  I  will  give  you  the  crown 
jewels ! 

RAMBHA 

My  daughter! 

VASANTASENA   {^rising  and  moving  slowly  towards 
the  inner  door'] 

To-morrow,  at  noon,  in  the  old  flower  garden,  Chara- 
dutta will  give  me  a  flower.     [^She  goes  m.] 

SAMSTHANAKA 

What  shall  I  do  to  this  seed  of  jackals,  this  brother  to 
hyenas?  Shall  I  grind  his  head  between  my  teeth, 
as  a  nut  is  ground  under  a  door? 

RAMBHA 

Nothing  would  be  too  bad  for  him,  my  good,  kind 
prince.  Let  it  be  not  less  than  heading  and  (juartering. 
You  see  it  is  not  my  daughter  at  all  that  is  against 
your  royal  highness,  but  only  the  beggarman,  the 
dried  rattling  bean-stalk,  that  has  bewitched  her. 

[142] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  saw,  I  saw  it  clearly.  She  could  not  possibly  have 
an  aversion  for  me;  it  is  this  Brahmin  that  deludes 
her.     We  must  remove  Charadutta. 

RAMBHA 

Noble  prince,  if  you  could  but.  .  .  . 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Silence.     I  must  consult  my  own  mind. 

RAMBHA 

If  you  could  only.  .  .  . 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Woman,  you  will  not  allow  me  to  think.  I  shall  soon 
have  a  magnificent  idea.  Anger  is  fruitful  to  ideas 
and  I  have  been  mocked.  I  must  have  a  large  re- 
venge. I  will  think  out  my  revenge,  and  take  less  time 
to  execute  than  to  invent  it. 

RAMBHA  ^creeping  up  and  whispering  mysteriously 
in  his  ear~\ 
Do  you  know  to  whom  she  has  given  all  her  jewels? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Her  jewels?     To  whom? 

RAMBHA 

To  Charadutta's  child. 

[143] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

To  the  child? 

RAMBHA 

The  father  will  say  he  knows  nothing  of  it;  but  I  know 
what  I  have  seen. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

She  gave  her  jewels  to  Charadutta's  child? 

RAMBHA 

All  that  she  had  upon  her,  heaped  them  like  pebbles 
of  the  road  in  the  child's  toy  cart. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

She  gives  him  her  jewels,  and  she  will  not  take  my 
jewels ' 

RAMBHA 

Sir,  when  she  comes  to  hsten  to  me,  by-and-by,  she 
will  take  your  jewels. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

He  must  be  removed.  Ah,  I  have  it!  "To-morrow, 
at  noon,  in  the  Old  Flower  Garden."  He  is  to  give 
her  a  flower!  He  shall  never  give  her  a  flower.  I 
will  meet  him  on  the  way.  I  will  give  him  his  choice 
of  deaths.  I  will  meet  her  in  his  place.  I  will  show 
her  on  my  sword  the  blood  of  the  man  who  was  weaker 
than  I;  slie  has  a  strong  soul,  and  will  love  the  stronger 
of  two  men,  and  the  man  who  is  alive  rather  than  a 
dead  man.     I  will  take  men  with  me,  lest  he  should 

[144] 


THE  TOY  CART 

escape  me.  I  will  win  Vasantasena  at  the  sword's 
point.  Take  this.  \^He  gives  rambha  gold.']  And  say 
nothing. 

RAMBHA 

My  daughter  will  be  well  and  safe? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Have  no  fear.  And  fear  nothing  if  it  should  please 
her,  rather  than  returning  home,  to  follow  me  to  the 
royal  palace. 

RAMBHA 

You  have  given  me  only  twenty  pieces  of  gold. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

You  shall  have  more  gold,  you  shall  have  as  much 
gold  as  you  want.  See  that  she  comes  to  the  Garden. 
I  will  see  that  Charadutta  does  not  come.  And  now 
call  someone  who  can  call  my  carriage  for  me.  I  go 
on  foot  only  before  gods  and  Brahmins. 

They  go  towards  the  door  as  the  curtain  falls,  rambha 
hobbling  obsequiously  before  the  prince. 


CURTAIN 


[145] 


THE  TOY  CART 


ACT  III 

The  Old  Flower  Garden,  icith  an  open  temple  at  one 
side.  Enter  samsthanaka  and  attendant.  At  in- 
tervals during  the  early  part  of  the  scene  samsthanaka 
picks  flowers,  until  he  has  graduMly  made  a  large  hunch. 
He  seems  to  do  it  unconsciously  as  the  thought  of  vasanta- 
SENA  recurs  to  him. 

AMSTHANAKA  [walking  up  and  down^ 

Are  my  men  ready  for  him;  are  they  lying  in  wait  on 
the  road  that  he  is  sure  to  come? 

ATTENDANT 

Yes,  my  lord. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

When  he  comes  they  are  to  surround  him,  and,  if  he 
resists,  kill  him. 

ATTENDANT 

Yes,  my  lord. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Perhaps  I  should  meet  him  face  to  face;  it  would  be 
more  royal;  draw  my  sword  upon  him;  but  no,  that 
would  be  to  treat  him  as  my  equal,  and  he  is  only  a 
Brahmin,  and  I  am  a  prince.  Is  Charadutta  a  good 
fighter? 

ATTENDANT 

It  is  said  so,  my  lord. 

[146] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAJVISTHANAKA 

One  can  never  judge  by  reports.  In  any  case  he  would 
not  stand  against  me  if  he  saw  me  sword  in  hand,  like 
a  king  and  the  avenger  of  kings.  There  is  a  majesty 
in  my  aspect,  is  there  not,  son  of  a  slave? 

ATTENDANT 

The  majesty  of  Indra. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Need  I  condescend  to  the  business?  The  slaying  of 
a  man  is  less  to  me  than  the  stringing  of  a  lute.  My 
men  shall  deal  with  him.     I  will  not  meddle  in  it. 

ATTENDANT 

The  way  my  lord  chooses  is  always  the  way  of  wisdom. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Does  a  man  suffer  much  when  he  is  killed  with  the 
sword?     You  have  seen  men  killed  in  battle. 

ATTENDANT 

A  man  who  is  killed  in  battle  dies  gladly;  he  touches 
joy  for  an  instant  and  then  rests  for  an  eternity. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Why  should  I  prepare  joy  or  rest  for  Charadutta? 
I  am  too  kind  if  I  kill  him  with  the  sword.  I  would 
Jhave  him  linger,  and  be  without  hope,  and  not  be  able 
to  die.  I  would  have  him  die  of  shame  before  death 
[147] 


THE  TOY  CART 

overtook  him.  Otherwise  my  revenge  will  be  paltry, 
a  mean  man's  revenge,  not  the  judgment  of  a  king. 
What  would  hurt  Charadutta  more  than  death? 

ATTENDANT 

His  honour. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Are  you  sure  of  that?  Strange,  that  dishonour  should 
hurt  more  than  death.  I  do  not  understand  it.  Tell 
me  why  you  think  this  strange  thing  of  Charadutta. 

ATTENDANT 

He  has  lost  everything  else;  honour  he  has  not  lost; 
if  he  had  to  choose  between  losing  life  and  losing 
honour,  what  could  there  be  to  make  him  hesitate? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

How  do  you  know  these  things  that  are  above  your 
station?  You  are  not  to  think  of  them  any  more. 
But  you  seem  to  know  Charadutta,  and  I  will  believe 
you.  Charadutta  must  not  die  until  he  has  lost  his 
honour.    After  that  he  shall  lose  his  life. 

ATTENDANT 

My  lord  can  do  all  things. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Ix't  me  take  counsel  with  my  mind.  Stand  further 
off,  that  I  may  have  room  to  think. 

ATTENDANT  movcs  a  few  steps  away,     samsthanaka 

stands  still  with  a  fixed  look.     Pause. 
I  have  it.     The  jewels  of  Vasantasena! 
[148] 


THE  TOY  CART 

ATTENDANT  [coming  forward] 
My  lord. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  will  accuse  him  of  theft.  He  shall  be  brought  before 
the  court  of  law,  he  shall  be  convicted  on  evidence, 
he  shall  be  condemned  to  death  as  a  thief.  I  shall  have 
killed  more  than  his  life. 

ATTENDANT 

It  will  be  easier  for  my  lord  to  have  killed  him  by  the 
sword. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Easier?  Then  I  will  take  the  more  difficult  way. 
If  I  could  have  him  arrested  before  he  can  come  to  the 
garden!  or,  if  not  arrested,  at  least  detained.  I  will 
find  out  a  way.  Some  god  who  helps  princes  will 
open  a  way  for  me;  perhaps  the  god  whose  empty 
shrine  is  before  me. 

As  he  speaks  the  first  gambler  runs  hurriedly  in. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

In  the  name  of  all  the  gods,  do  not  betray  me! 

He  ivalks  backivards  into  the  temple  and  sits  down 
on  the  empty  pedestal.  He  is  immediately  followed 
by  others,  who  rush  into  the  garden  and  look  around 
in  surprise. 

THIRD    GAMBLER 

I  saw  him  enter  the  garden;  he  must  have  taken 
sanctuary  in  the  temple. 

[1491 


THE  TOY   CART 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

He  may  hide  in  hell,  but  he  shall  not  escape  me  till 
he  has  paid  every  farthing. 

THIRD   GAMBLER 

Let  me  ask  this  lord.  My  lord,  we  are  following  a 
gambler  who  has  cheated  us  of  ten  suvarnas;  has  any 
man  passed  this  way? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  have  seen  no  one  but  the  god. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

He  must  be  inside.  We  will  wait.  Then  he  will  think 
we  have  gone  away,  and  he  will  come  out,  and  we  shall 
have  him.     Let  us  wait  here  in  the  porch  of  the  temple. 

THIRD   GAMBLER 

Look,  here  are  his  footsteps.  He  was  shaking  with  fear, 
every  limb  of  him.  I  can  see  it  by  the  marks  of  his 
feet,  as  they  slipped  and  stumbled  over  the  ground. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

The  track  is  lost  here;    there  are  no  more  footmarks. 

THIRD    GAMBLER 

Hey,  they  are  all  reversed.  He  has  walked  backward 
into  the  temple. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

I  thought  the  temple  was  empty;  there  used  to  be  no 
image  in  it.     \Miat  is  this  image? 

[150  1 


THE  TOY   CART 

THIRD    GAMBLER 

Is  it  of  wood,  do  you  think? 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

I  think  it  is  of  stone. 

They  show  by  their  side-glances  that  they  have  recog- 
nized the  GAMBLER.  They  go  near  him  and  put 
out  their  hands  as  if  to  feel. 

THIRD   GAMBLER 

Never  mind.     Let  us  sit  down  and  play  out  our  game. 
They  sit  down  under  the  pedestal,   take  out  their 
cmories,  scratch  Jour  compartments  upon  the  ground 
and  play. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Fourteen. 

Eleven. 

Fifteen. 


THIRD  GAMBLER 

SECOND  GAMBLER 

THIRD  GAMBLER 


Now,  if  one  had  no  money,  the  mere  sound  of  the 
rattling  of  the  dice  would  be  as  tantalizing  as  the 
sound  of  a  drum  to  a  king  without  a  kingdom. 


SECOND    GAMBLER 

Or  a  cup  of  strong  drink  to  a  drunkard.     It  is  my 
throw. 

THIRD    GAMBLER 

No,  it  is  mine. 

[1511 


THE  TOY   CART 

FIRST  GAMBLER  [jumping  doit)7f\ 
No,  it  is  mine.     [They  seize  him.'] 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Now,  hypocrite,  villain,  mocker  of  the  gods,  are 
you  caught  or  not?  Will  you  pay  or  no?  Do  you  owe 
me  ten  suvarnas  or  no? 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

If  you  will  take  your  hands  off  me  I  will  answer  your 
questions  one  at  a  time. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Answer  them  all  at  once. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Yes,  no,  yes. 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

WTiat  do  you  mean  by  yes,  no,  yes? 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

Let  me  explain  to  you  in  your  ear.  [Aside.]  If  I  pay 
you  half  the  money  will  you  let  me  off  the  rest? 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Agreed. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Let  me  speak  to  him  a  moment.  [Whispers  to  the 
THIRD  GAMBLER.]  I  Will  give  you  sccurity  for  half  the 
debt  if  you  cry  quits  for  the  other  half. 

11521 


THE  TOY   CART 

THIRD   GAMBLER 


Agreed. 


FIRST    GAMBLER   \jo   SECOND   GAMBLER   aloud] 

You  let  me  off  half  the  debt? 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

I  do. 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

And  you  give  up  haK? 

THIRD   GAMBLER 

I  do. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Then  good  morning  to  you,  gentlemen.  [He  turns  as 
if  to  go.'] 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Not  so  fast;  where  are  you  going? 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

Why  look  you,  one  of  you  has  let  me  off  one  half,  and 
the  other  has  let  me  off  another  half.  Is  it  not  clear 
that  I  am  quits  for  the  whole?  I  wish  you  a  good 
morning. 

SECOND  GAMBLER  [seizing  him'] 

Stop  a  moment.  You  know  my  name,  you  know  that 
I  know  a  thing  or  two;  you  know  if  I  am  going  to 
be  done  like  this.  Down  with  the  whole  sum,  or  you 
come  with  me  to  prison, 

[153] 


THE  TOY  CART 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

O  merciful  sir] 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

Pay  and  go  free. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

^^^lere  am  I  to  get  the  money? 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Sell  your  father. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Is  my  father  here  to  sell.'* 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

Sell  your  mother. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Is  my  mother  here  to  sell.' 

SECOND   GAMBLER 

S^lPyourself. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Myself. 5*  If  anyone  would  only  buy  me !  Who'll  buy? 
Who'll  buy.'  Here's  a  gentleman  who  will  perhaps 
buy  me  for  ten  suvarnas. 

SAMSTIIANAKA 

Are  you  worth  it? 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Am  I  not  a  cat  in  climbing,  a  deer  in  running,  a  snake 
in  twisting,  a  hawk  in  darting  upon  its  prey?  I  am 
Maya  in  disguising  myself,  and  Sarawasti  in  the  gift 
of  tongues. 

[1541 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTIIANAKA 

I  buy  you.  You  are  the  man  I  want.  Here  are  ten 
suvarnas.     Loose  him  and  let  him  go. 

SECOND    GAMBLER 

The  property  is  yours. 

Takes  the  money  and  they  both  go 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

I  am  your  slave  for  life.     What  shall  I  do  for  you? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Sir,  I  have  a  piece  of  work  for  you.  If  you  do  it  you 
shall  be  rewarded,  though  seeing  that  I  have  bought 
you,  you  belong  to  me  already.  I  am  Prince  Sams- 
thanaka,  and  I  can  reward  you  like  a  prince. 

FIRST   GAMBLER  ^. 

My  lord,  I  will  be  a  hawk  for  you  in  the  air:  what  is 
there  I  should  see?  I  will  be  a  woK  in  seizing:  what  is 
there  I  should  seize? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Seize  Charadutta. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

What,  the  new  lover  of  Vasantasena? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Why  do  you  think  he  is  a  lover  of  Vasantasena? 
[155] 


THE  TOY  CART 


FIRST    GAMBLER 


It  was  at  her  house  that  I  played  dice  once  too  often. 
Last  night  Charadutta  was  there. 

SAMSTHANAKA  \_flinging  dovm  the  flowers'] 

You  saw  him?  you?  at  her  house?  The  thunder  of  all 
the  gods  blacken  her  and  him !  That  is  why  she  would 
not  let  me  in!  I  have  not  only  been  insulted,  I  have 
been  deceived.  If  she  were  not  more  beautiful  than 
the  dawn  I  would  put  her  to  death  with  my  own  hands. 
If  she  were  not  more  desirable  than  the  dawn  I  would 
bring  eternal  night  upon  her.  But  first  I  will  avenge 
myself  upon  Charadutta.  I  have  the  means,  if  you 
will  do  my  service  swiftly  and  without  fault. 

FIRST   GAMBLER 

Tell  me,  and  I  will  do  it. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Can  you  disguise  yourself  as  an  officer  of  justice, 
intercept  Charadutta,  who  is  now  on  his  way  to  this 
garden,  and  convey  him  secretly  to  my  palace,  where 
I  will  lodge  a  charge  against  him  that  he  has  stolen  the 
jewels  of  Vasantasena? 

FIRST    GAMBLER 

I  have  personated  a  god.     Can  I  not  personate  an 

officer  of  justice?  [Jle  alters  the  arrangement  of  his 
clothes,  and  disguises  his  facer\ 

[156] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Go  at  once.  Take  no  one  with  you.  He  will  follow 
you  in  the  name  of  the  law.     Go  at  once. 

GAMBLER  goes  out  hurriedly. 
l^Turns  to  attendant  I  have  no  further  need  of  you  nor 
of  my  men.     Return  home  and  leave  me  alone  here. 

ATTENDANT  goeS. 

The  sun  sits  like  an  angry  ape  in  the  sky;  I  breathe 
flame,  and  there  is  no  shade  under  the  trees.  O 
Vasantasena,  you  burn  my  heart  like  the  sun  at  noon- 
day. I  wait  for  you,  and  I  do  not  know  if  it  is  with 
love  or  hatred. 

There  is  a  sound  of  wheels.     He  listens. 
She  is  here.     She  is  sending  away  her  carriage.     She 
is  alone. 

He  sees  the  flowers,  hurriedly  'picks  them  up,  and  then 
draws  hack,  in  the  shadow  of  a  tree,  vasantasena 
comes  slowly  forward,  looking  from  side  to  side. 

vasantasena  [stopping  and  putting  her  hand  to  her 

eye] 

My  right  eye  throbs:  it  is  an  evil  omen.  [She  catches 
sight  of  samsthanaka].    Ah ! 

SAMSTHANAKA  [speaking  in  tones  of  cold  malice] 

Why  do  you  stand  with  your  eyes  cast  down  to  the 
earth,  like  cattle  that  hang  their  heads  against  the 
rain?  Why  do  you  turn  pale  and  shrink  back,  as  if 
it  were  not  I,  Prince  Samsthanaka,  your  lover,  that 
you  had  come  to  meet? 

[157] 


THE  TOY   CART 

VASANTASENA  [^faintly,  looking  round  as  if  for  hel])] 
I  (lid  not  come  to  meet  you. 

SAMSTHANAKA    [^coming  nearer,    and    offering    her 

flowers^ 

Here  are  flowers  for  my  little  Vasantasena,  my  dove, 
my  gazelle;  all  the  flowers  of  the  garden  wait  for  her; 
she  has  come  to  receive  the  gift,  not  of  a  flower,  but 
of  all  the  flowers  of  the  garden.  This  garden  was  made 
to  be  a  place  of  delight,  and  these  trees  were  planted 
to  give  shelter  to  the  unsheltered.  Come  under  their 
shadow,  for  the  sun  is  a  flame  in  the  sky.  You  are 
pale,  Vasantasena:  take  these  flowers  and  come  into 
the  shadow  of  the  trees. 

He  offers  her  the  flowers  but  she  does  not  take  them, 
and  they  fall  to  the  ground  between  them. 

VASANTASENA 

I  will  not  come  out  of  the  sun. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

You  have  cast  away  my  flowers,  Vasantasena.  Yet 
you  came  here  for  a  flower.  No  one  is  here  to  give 
you  that  flower.  Look  around,  he  is  not  here.  He  is 
not  anywhere  among  the  trees;  he  is  not  hiding  in  the 
temijle;   he  is  not  even  under  the  ground. 

VASANTASENA  [^eagerlij^ 
What  do  you  mean? 

f  1581 


THE  TOY   CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Has  Charadutta  already  forgotten  that  he  was  to  meet 
you?  You  see  he  does  not  come.  If  he  were  here 
I  would  go  away.     I  take  the  place  of  the  absent. 

VASANTASENA 

What  have  you  done  to  him?  something  stronger  than 
death,  he  said:   what  have  you  done  to  Charadutta? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

You  are  a  dancing  girl,  Vasantasena,  you  are  the  mart 
of  love,  you  are  the  mine  of  pleasure.  It  is  your  trade 
to  welcome  alike  the  man  whom  you  love  and  the  man 
whom  you  do  not  love.  Why,  even  if  you  do  not  love 
me,  have  you  always  spurned  me?  Why  do  you  turn 
your  eyes  and  your  heart  only  on  the  man  who  is  not 
here,  on  Charadutta?  It  is  not  too  late,  Vasantasena. 
And  as  for  Charadutta,  you  see  that  he  is  not  here. 
IJSe  comes  closer  to  herr\ 

VASANTASENA 

Why  is  he  not  here?    O  where  is  Charadutta? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Do  not  ask  me,  Vasantasena.  He  is  not  here,  yet  you 
run  after  him. 

VASANTASENA 

I  will  run  after  him  until  I  find  him.  Let  me  pass, 
perhaps  he  is  here,  somewhere  in  the  garden. 

[159] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Listen,  This  man  is  a  beggar,  and  a  beggar  is  an 
empty  pool. 

VASANTASENA 

The  pool  is  full  to  the  brim  whose  water  is  unfit  for 
drinking. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Will  you  always  scorn  me?  And  is  it  always  for  his 
sake  that  you  scorn  me? 

VASANTASENA 

Let  me  go  to  him. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

He  is  not  here.     But  I  am  here,  Vasantasena. 

VASANTASENA 

Shall  the  swan's  mate  harbour  with  crows? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

You  are  a  strangling  creeper.  You  are  a  deadly  weed. 
You  must  be  rooted  up  out  of  the  garden. 

VASANTASENA 

Let  me  go.     I  am  afraid  of  your  eyes  and  your  hands. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Do  you  see  these  hands?  These  ten  fingers  are  not 
the  petals  of  the  lotus.  What  if  they  should  take  you 
by  the  hair  of  your  head  as  Jatayn  seized  the  wife  of 
Bali? 

[160] 


THE  TOY  CART 


VASAJSTTASENA 


Why  do  you  cry  upon  me  as  if  I  had  done  you  a  wrong? 
I  have  done  you  no  wrong.     Let  me  go,  let  me  go  home. 

[^She  turns  and  tries  to  pass.^ 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Do  you  see  these  hands?  It  is  not  with  henna  that 
they  are  red.  It  is  not  the  sun  that  bhnds  me  as  I 
look  upon  you.  What  shall  I  do  to  the  woman  who 
has  spurned  me  as  jackals  spurn  carrion? 

VASANTASENA 

Let  me  go. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

The  tiger  does  not  only  kill.  Why  should  I  kill  you 
when  you  might  live  for  my  delight?     Choose! 

VASANTASENA 

There  is  nothing  to  choose. 

SAMSTHANAEA 

Are  you  not  in  my  power? 

VASANTASENA 

My  body,  not  my  innocence. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

We  are  alone;   who  shall  see  us? 
[161] 


THE  TOY  CART 

VASANTASENA 

The  ten  points  of  the  compass,  the  eyes  of  the  wood- 
gods,  the  moon,  the  sun  tliat  now  burns  upon  us,  the 
judge  of  the  dead,  the  wind,  the  air,  your  conscience, 
and  the  earth :  these  are  the  witnesses  of  all  things. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  will  cast  my  cloak  over  you  and  you  shall  not  be  seen. 

VASANTASENA 

Are  you  mad? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  fear  nothing,  and  I  will  do  a  great  deed.  Are  you 
ready  to  die,  Vasantasena.'* 

VASANTASENA 

No,  no,  I  am  not  ready  to  die.  I  have  not  lived  yet. 
Let  me  go.  [/n  struggling  vnih  him  she  strikes  him  in 
the  jace.~\ 

SAMSTHANAKA 

A  woman  has  struck  me,  a  light  woman.  She  must 
die. 

VASANTASENA 

Have  pity  on  me,  have  pity!  O  I  cannot  die.  [She 
Jails  on  her  knees  before  him.^ 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Do  jackals  fly  or  crows  run?  Then  how  should  I  have 
pity?     \_Iie  takes  ojf  his  girdle  and  makes  a  noose  of  ii.^ 

[  162  ] 


THE  TOY   CART 

VASANTASENA 

Mother,  where  are  you?  O  Charadutta,  I  shall  die 
and  I  shall  not  have  known  your  love.  The  gods  bless 
Charadutta ! 

SAMSTHANAKA  [draimng  the  noose  about  her  neclcj 
That  name !  again,  daughter  of  a  slave ! 

VASANTASENA  [iti  a  half-choked  voice\ 
The  gods  bless  Charadutta! 

8he  falls  motionless  on  the  ground,  samsthanaka 
leans  over  her,  then  looks  up  and  around,  moves 
away,  comes  back  and  gazes  down  at  her,  then  takes 
off  his  cloak  and  is  laying  it  over  her  when  he  notices 
the  arms  embroidered  on  it;  snatches  back  his  cloak, 
looks  helplessly  and  anxiously  round,  then  gathers 
handfuls  of  dry  leaves  and  covers  her  body.  Then 
furtively  and  stealthily  hurries  out.  There  is  a 
pause.  Then  a  rough  voice  is  heard  singing  in  a 
kind  of  sloio  chant,  like  an  old  beggar,  and  mendicant 
friar  comes  in.  He  carries  a  rosary  in  his  hand, 
a  wallet  of  black  deerskin  at  his  side,  an  ochre-red 
cloak  over  his  arm;  he  has  a  long  beard. 

mendicant  [^sings'] 

Good  fellow-men,  I  bid  you  heap 
Good  deeds,  and  halter  appetite; 
The  drum  of  meditation  keep 
Your  souls  awake,  lest  in  the  night, 
The  thieving  senses  at  the  door 
Break  in  and  take  away  your  store. 

[163] 


THE  TOY  CART 

He  who  has  slain  the  senses  five, 
Five  brethren,  and  the  hangman  self, 
Nor  left  poor  ignorance  alive, 
Has  conquered  heaven  for  himself. 
What  profits  it  a  shaven  head? 
Show  me  a  shaven  soul  instead. 

Shade  at  last,  and  the  hour  advises  me  to  rest.  I  have 
washed  my  cloak;  where  shall  I  put  it  to  dry?  I  will 
hang  it  on  the  boughs  of  this  tree.  No,  they  are  too 
high:  I  will  lay  it  on  the  ground.  No,  there  is  too 
much  dust.  Ah!  the  wind  has  blown  together  a  heap 
of  dry  leaves:  I  will  put  it  there.  There,  it  will  soon 
be  dry. 

He  spreads  out  his  cloak  over  the  body  of  vasan- 
TASENA  and  sits  down  a  little  way  off  against  a  tree. 
Glory  to  Buddha!  How  beautifully  everything  in  the 
world  is  adapted  to  its  purpose.  Here  am  I,  a  mendi- 
cant friar,  begging  my  way  about  the  world.  I  have 
come  to  this  city,  which  is  the  most  virtuous  city  in  this 
region;  in  this  city  I  come  by  mere  good  fortune  to 
the  Old  Flower  Garden,  which  is  the  most  famous 
garden  in  the  city:  I  find  a  pond  to  wash  my  cloak 
in,  a  shady  tree  to  sit  under,  and  I  am  alone,  far  from 
the  enemities  of  men  and  the  too  pleasing  wiles  of 
women,  where  I  can  meditate  on  the  divine  perfections. 
I  will  close  my  eyes  and  repeat  the  sacred  "Om." 
What  was  that? 

He  sits  up  and  looks  round. 
Something  stirred  or  sighed  in  the  leaves.  Ah,  it  was 
only  the  crackling  of  the  scorched  leaves  under  the 
wetness  of  my  cloak.  I  will  compose  myself  to  medi- 
tation; I  will  think  neither  upon  my  sins,  which  are  of 
[164] 


THE  TOY   CART 

old,  nor  upon  the  virtues  which  I  would  acquire; 
but  I  will  gaze  fixedly  at  the  leaves  yonder,  on  which 
I  have  laid  my  cloak  and  I  will  repeat  —  O  what  is 
this?  The  leaves  spread  outward  like  the  wings  of  a 
bird?  And  there  is  a  hand,  a  woman's  hand,  with 
rich  ornaments  on  it.  What  can  this  mean?  The 
gods  preserve  me  from  pollution! 

He  rises  and  draws  his  cloak  carefully  away,  dis- 
closing VASANTASENA,  wlio  lies  at  full  length.     She 
feebly  raises  her  hand  and  joints  to  her  mouth. 
She  wants  water:  the  pool  is  far  away:  what  can  I  do? 
Ah,  my  cloak  is  still  wet.     [He  squeezes  some  water  out 
of  his  cloak  upon  her  face,  and  fans  her  with  it.^ 

VASANTASENA  [raising  her  head~\ 
Thanks,  friend.     Who  are  you? 

MENDICANT 

I  am  a  mendicant  friar.  I  was  meditating  in  this 
garden  of  peace. 

VASANTASENA 

Of  peace ! 

MENDICANT 

WTiat  has  befallen  you,  lady? 

VASANTASENA 

I  think  I  have  been  dead. 

MENDICANT 

Rise,  lady. 

VASANTASENA 

I  cannot  rise;  give  me  your  hand. 
1165] 


THE  TOY  CART 

MENDICANT 

That  I  may  not  do;  take  hold  of  this  creeper  and  raise 
yourself. 

He  hends  down  to  her  a  creeper  on  the  trees;    she 

lays  hold  of  it  and  draws  herself  up. 
Come,  I  will  lead  you. 

VASANTASENA 

I  cannot  walk. 

MENDICANT 

If  you  will  take  hold  of  this,  I  will  lead  you,  and  I  shall 
not  have  broken  my  oath,  which  forbids  me  to  touch 
a  woman. 

VASANTASENA 

I  cannot  go  far. 

MENDICANT 

There  is  a  convent  close  by;  you  shall  rest  there,  and 
recover  your  strength.     Come,  lady,  gently. 

VASANTASENA 

Am  I  really  alive.'*  [_She  walks  feebly,  holding  the  end 
of  the  creeper  r\ 

MENDICANT 

What  should  the  just  man  care  for  life  or  death.?     His 
is  the  world  to  come. 
They  go  out  together. 

CURTAIN 


166 


THE  TOY  CART 


ACT  IV 

The  Hall  of  Justice.  The  judge,  the  provost,  and  the 
RECORDER  Seated.     People  standing;  at  the  back  sams- 

THANAKA. 

CRIER 

Give  ear,  all  men,  to  the  words  of  the  judge! 

JUDGE  [rising^ 

I  am  here  to  do  justice,  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust 
alike.  A  judge  should  be  learned,  wise,  eloquent,  dis- 
passionate, impartial;  he  should  pronounce  judgment 
only  after  due  enquiry  and  deliberation;  he  should  be 
a  guardian  to  the  weak,  a  terror  to  the  wicked;  his 
heart  should  be  without  covetousness,  his  mind  intent 
only  on  truth  and  equity,  and  his  should  it  be  to  keep 
aloof  the  anger  of  the  king. 

PROVOST 

Your  worship  has  painted  his  own  picture  in  deline- 
ating the  features  of  the  perfect  judge. 

RECORDER 

You  shall  be  taxed  with  favour  when  the  moon  is 
charged  with  obscurity. 

JUDGE 

The  quality  of  a  judge  is  readily  the  subject  of  censure. 
It  is  always  hard  to  see  into  the  hearts  of  others,  and 

[167] 


THE  TOY  CART 

hard  also  is  it  to  disentangle  the  coils  of  their  doings. 
How  often  is  truth  far  from  the  lips  of  men,  and  how 
often  is  an  accusation  brought  against  the  innocent. 
Justice  is  in  the  hands  of  the  gods  alone;  it  is  enough 
for  us  if  we  will  to  be  just,  and  put  our  trust  in  the 
justice  of  the  gods,  [//e  seats  himself.']  Officer,  go 
forth  and  see  who  comes  to  demand  justice. 

OFFICER  goes  to  the  other  end  of  the  court  and  cries: 

OFFICER 

By  order  of  his  honour,  the  judge,  I  ask  who  is  there 
that  demands  justice? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I,  the  king's  brother-in-law. 

JUDGE 

This  is  out  of  order.  There  are  other  cases  that  have 
to  be  tried  first.  Go  to  him  and  tell  him  that  his  case 
cannot  be  tried  to-day. 

OFFICER  \_gomg  down  the  Halt} 

I  am  desired  to  inform  your  excellency  that  your  case 
cannot  be  tried  to-day. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

How,  not  to-day?  Tell  the  judge  that  I  shall  go 
straight  to  the  king,  my  brother-in-law,  and  that  I 
shall  have  him  dismissed  from  his  office,  and  his  office 
given  to  another.     My  case  is  to  be  heard  to-day. 

OFFICER 

Stay  one  moment,  your  honour,  and  I  will  carry  your 
message  to  the  Court.     \^He  goes  back  to  the  judge  .J 

[168] 


THE  TOY  CART 

Please  your  worship,  his  excellency  is  very  angry,  and 
declares  if  you  will  not  try  his  suit  to-day  he  will  go 
to  the  king  and  procure  your  worship's  dismissal. 

JUDGE 

It  is  in  the  fool's  power.  He  must  be  heard.  Call 
him,  and  let  him  come  hither. 

OFFICER 

Will  your  excellency  be  pleased  to  come  forward? 
Your  case  will  be  heard. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

0  indeed!  first  it  could  not  be  heard;  now  it  will  be 
heard.  Very  well:  the  judges  fear  me:  they  will  do 
my  will.  l^He  goes  up  to  the  judges.^  I  am  well  pleased, 
gentlemen,  by  your  decision;  it  is  for  you  also  to  be 
well  pleased,  for  your  good  pleasure  lies  in  my  hands. 

JUDGE  [aswZe] 
Is  this  the  language  of  a  plaintiff?    Be  seated. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Assuredly.     Are  not  all  these  places  mine,  and  shall 

1  not  be  seated  where  I  please?  [To  the  provost]  I  will 
sit  here.  No.  [To  the  recorder]  I  will  sit  here;  no 
no.  [To  the  judge,  laying  his  hand  on  his  shoulder. ^ 
I  will  sit  here. 

judge 
Your  excellency  has  a  complaint  to  bring? 
[169] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  have  indeed. 

JUDGE 

Prefer  it. 

sa:^isthanaka 

All  in  good  time.  Do  not  forget  that  I  am  of  noble 
family,  that  my  father  is  the  king's  father-in-law,  the 
king  is  my  father's  son-in-law,  I  am  the  brother-in-law 
of  the  king. 

JUDGE 

All  this  we  know;  but  what  have  birth  and  rank  to 
do  with  virtue?  Thorns  grow  most  plentifully  on  the 
richest  soil.     Declare  therefore  your  suit. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

It  is  this;  but  it  is  no  fault  of  mine.  My  noble  brother- 
in-law,  for  his  good  pleasure,  presented  me,  for  my 
ease  and  recreation,  with  the  fairest  of  the  royal 
gardens,  the  Old  Flower  Garden.  I  go  there  daily, 
to  see  that  it  is  well  kept  and  weeded  and  in  order. 
To-day  I  go  there  as  usual,  and  what  do  I  see  (how 
could  I  believe  my  eyes.^)  but  the  dead  body  of  a 
murdered  woman! 

JUDGE 

Did  you  recognize  the  woman.'* 

SAMSTHANAKA. 

Alas,  how  could  I  fail  to  recognize  her,  the  pride  of 
our  city,  all  her  jewels  gone  from  her,  stolen  no  doubt 
by  some  miscreant  who  had  lured  her  into  the  lonely 
garden?  I  saw  Vasantasena,  strangled  by  his  hands, 
not  by  me.     [_He  breaks  short.^ 

[1701 


THE  TOY  CART 

JUDGE 

The  city  is  ill  guarded.  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard 
the  complaint;  let  it  be  recorded,  including  the  words 
"not  by  me." 

RECORDER  [writing'} 
It  is  written. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

What  have  I  said.'*  My  lords,  I  was  going  to  say,  not 
by  me  was  the  deed  beheld.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
note  down  these  mere  trifles. 

JUDGE 

How,  then,  if  you  did  not  see  it  done,  do  you  know 
that  Vasantasena  was  strangled,  and  for  the  sake  of 
her  jewels.'' 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  conclude  so,  for  the  neck  was  bare  and  swollen,  and 
her  dress  rifled  of  its  jewels. 

PROVOST 

It  seems  like  enough. 

SAMSTHANAKA  [aside] 
I  breathe  again. 

JUDGE 

First  of  all,  let  oflBcers  be  sent  with  speed  to  the  Old 
Flower  Garden,  and  let  them  bring  hither  the  body 
of  the  murdered  woman. 

Officers  go  out.  There  is  a  stir  in  the  court,  and  the 
FIRST  G.^MBLER  covics  in  hurriedly  and  makes  signs 
to  SAMSTHANAKA,  u'ho  leavcs  his  place  and  goes  aside 
with  him. 

[  1711 


THE  TOY  CART 

GAMBLER 

My  lord,  I  have  failed.  I  have  found  Charadutta 
nowhere,  though  I  have  searched  every  corner  of  the 
city.     I  have  failed  to  delay  him  from  my  lord's  path. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Fool,  the  god  whose  place  you  took  in  the  temple  has 
done  better  than  you.     A  murder  has  been  committed 
in  the  garden:    remember,  it  was  Charadutta  who  did 
it,  and  he  did  it  for  the  jewels  of  Vasantasena. 
He  goes  hack  to  his  place. 

PROVOST 

On  what  further  evidence  does  this  suit  depend? 

JUDGE 

The  case  is  twofold,  and  must  be  investigated  both  in 
relation  to  facts  and  to  assertions;  the  verbal  in- 
vestigation relates  to  ])laintiff  and  respondent,  that  of 
facts  depends  upon  the  judge. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

My  lords,  I  have  further  evidence  to  give,  I  have  an 
accusation  to  make. 

JUDGE 

Whom  do  you  accuse? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  accuse  Charadutta. 

f  172] 


THE  TOY  CART 

JUDGE 

Prince,  you  are  jesting.  It  were  as  easy  to  weigh 
Himalaya,  to  ford  the  ocean,  or  to  grasp  the  wind,  as 
to  fix  a  stain  on  Charadutta. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  have  evidence. 

JUDGE 

Give  your  evidence.     And  meanwhile  let  Charadutta 
be  summoned,  not  as  one  accused,  but  as  one  who  would 
rather  that  evil  tales  were  told  of  him  to  his  face  than 
behind  his  back.     Say,  at  his  perfect  convenience. 
Officer  is  going  out. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

I  demand  the  mother  of  Vasantasena  as  a  witness. 

JUDGE 

Let  her  be  summoned,  but  with  all  courtesy. 

OFFICER    goes   out   and   returns   immediately   with 

RAMBHA. 

OFFICER 

She  was  waiting  outside  the  court. 

RAMBHA 

My  lords,  my  lords,  where  is  my  daughter?  O  my 
heart!  I  am  fainting,  what  with  the  heat  and  the 
emotion.     Will  your  worships  allow  me  to  sit  down? 

JUDGE 

Be  seated. 

[173] 


THE  TOY  CART 

RAMBHA 

What   have    I    heard?     What   has    happened   to   my 
daughter? 

JUDGE 

You  are  the  mother  of  Vasantasena? 

RAMBHA 

I  am. 

JUDGE 

Where  is  your  daughter? 

RAMBHA 

That  is  what  I  ask?     Where  is  my  daughter? 

JUDGE 

You  are  not  to  ask  questions.     You  are  to  answer 
them.     Where  did  you  last  see  your  daughter? 

RAMBHA 

She  was  preparing  to  go  to  meet  a  friend. 

JUDGE 

Where  was  she  to  meet  this  friend? 

RAMBHA 

In  the  Old  Flower  Garden. 

JUDGE 

The  name  of  the  friend? 

[174  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

RAMBHA 

Surely,  your  worship,  that  is  not  a  fit  question  for  your 
worship  to  ask? 

JUDGE 

No  hesitation.     The  law  asks  the  question. 

PROVOST 

Speak  out,  there  is  no  harm  in  saying  it.  The  law 
asks  the  question. 

RAMBHA 

Well  then,  gentlemen,  to  tell  the  truth,  as  you  insist 
upon  it,  and  the  very  own  truth  it  is  (not  that  I  ever 
spoke  otherwise),  the  friend  is  a  good  gentleman  who 
is  the  son  of  Sagaradatta,  who  was  the  son  of  the 
Provost  Vinayaddatta,  whose  own  name  is  Charadutta. 
He  lives  near  the  Exchange.  My  daughter  went  to 
meet  him  this  morning  in  the  Old  Flower  Garden. 
Where  is  my  daughter.'' 

SAMSTHANAKA 

You  hear,  judges:  let  this  be  set  down  in  writing.  It 
is  Charadutta  whom  I  have  accused.  You  see  that  he 
is  guilty. 

PROVOST 

He  is  her  friend:  what  is  more  natural  than  that  she 
should  go  to  meet  him.^* 

RAMBHA 

My  lords,  tell  me  where  is  my  daughter? 
CHARADUTTA  enters  with  the  officer. 

[  175  ] 


THE  TOY  CART 

RECORDER 

Here  is  Charadutta :  such  straight  features  could  never 
hide  a  crooked  mind. 

JUDGE 

Sir,  be  seated.     Officer,  a  seat. 

OFFICER 

It  is  here.     Be  seated,  Sir. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

All  this  pother  for  a  woman-killer!     But  never  mind. 

JUDGE 

Noble  Charadutta,  I  have  to  ask  you  _  any  intimacy 
or  connection  has  ever  subsisted  between  you  and  the 
daughter  of  this  woman? 

CHARADUTTA 

WTiat  woman? 

JUDGE 

This. 

CHARADUTTA  [rising'] 

Lady,  I  salute  you. 

RAMBHA 

Sir,  is  it  you  that  ... 

JUDGE 

Be  silent.     And  now  tell  me,  Charadutta,  were  you 
ever  acquainted  with  Vasantasena? 
CHARADUTTA  hesitates. 

[176] 


THE  TOY   CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

See  how  modest  he  is  or  pretends  to  be!     But  it  is  a 
cloak,  a  cloak. 

PROVOST 

Do  not  hesitate,  Charadutta.  There  is  a  charge 
against  you. 

CHARADUTTA 

What  if  Vasantasena  were  my  friend.'^ 

JUDGE 

No  evasion,  Charadutta.  The  law  obliges  you  to 
speak  out,  and  to  speak  the  whole  truth. 

CHARADUTTA 

First  tell  me  who  is  my  accuser. 

SAMSTHANAKA  [rising} 
I  am. 

CHARADUTTA  [contemptuously} 

You!     Then  it  is  a  serious  matter. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

A  serious  matter  indeed.  What!  Do  you  think  you 
are  going  to  rob  and  murder  a  woman  and  that  no  one 
is  ever  to  know  of  it? 

CHARADUTTA 

Are  you  out  of  your  mind?     WTiat  do  you  mean? 

[177  ] 


THE  TOY  CART 


JUDGE 


Enough    of    this.     Tell    me,    was    Vasantasena    your 
friend? 


CHARADUTTA 


She  was,  she  is.     Why  do  you  say  she  was.f*     Tell  me 
what  all  this  means? 


SAMSTHANAKA 

You  see  his  agitation?     Guilt  will  out. 

JUDGE 

When  did  you  last  see  her? 

CHARADUTTA 

At  her  house  last  night. 

JUDGE 

And  what  appointment  did  she  make  with  you? 

CHARADUTTA 

Appointment? 

JUDGE 

You  are  to  answer. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  promised  to  meet  her  at  noon  to-day  in  the  Old 
Flower  Garden. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

You  hear,  judges;   you  hear  him  confess  his  crime? 
[178  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHARADUTTA 

Sirs,  what  is  this  talk  of  crime?  You  want  to  make  me 
beUeve  that  some  terrible  thing  has  happened  to 
Vasantasena.  But  you  will  not  tell  me  what  it  is? 
Why  do  you  torture  me? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

You  hear  the  guilty  wretch?     He  betrays  himself. 

JUDGE 

Be  silent,  both  of  you.  And  tell  me,  Charadutta,  did 
you  meet  Vasantasena  at  noon  in  the  Old  Flower 
Garden  as  you  had  appointed? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  did  not. 

JUDGE 

Why? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  was  unavoidably  prevented. 

PROVOST 

This  sounds  strange. 

JUDGE 

You  were  prevented  from  keeping  such  an  appoint- 
ment?    What  prevented  you? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  cannot  tell  you. 

JUDGE 

I  must  insist  upon  an  answer. 
[179] 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHARADXJTTA 

I  cannot  answer  you. 

JUDGE 

You  endanger  your  life  by  your  silence.  For  the  sake 
of  your  honour  I  command  you  to  answer. 

CHARADUTTA 

It  is  my  honour  that  forbids  me  to  answer. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Listen  to  him,  my  lord?  He  has  confessed  all.  He  was 
going  to  the  garden,  he  did  not  go  to  the  garden,  he 
cannot  say  where  he  went  when  he  did  not  go  to  the 
garden.  He  is  condemned  out  of  his  own  mouth. 
Give  sentence  on  him. 

JUDGE 

My  lord,  I  am  the  judge  here  and  not  you.  I  am  here 
to  weigh  truth  and  falsehood  to  hear  evidence,  and 
to  learn  truth.     Sit  down  in  your  place  and  be  silent. 

RECORDER   [tO   PROVOSt] 

It  is  strange  that  Charadutta  will  not  answer. 

PROVOST 

It  is  so  much  against  him. 

JUDGE 

Have  the  oflScers  returned  from  the  garden? 

OFFICER 

They  are  here,  my  lord. 

[180  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

JUDGE 

Let  them  come  forward. 

An  OFFICER  comes  forward. 
Tell  me,  what  you  have  seen  and  done? 

OFFICER 

We  went  with  haste,  my  lord,  to  the  Old  Flower 
Garden,  and  we  fomid  that  the  body  of  a  woman  had 
been  there,  but  beasts  of  prey  had  seized  upon  it  and 
devoured  it. 

JUDGE 

How  do  you  know  that  it  was  the  body  of  a  woman? 

OFFICER 

By  the  remains  of  the  hair,  and  the  marks  of  the  hands 
and  feet. 

RAMBHA 

O  Vasantasena  is  really  and  truly  dead,  and  I  am  alive 
to  hear  it?  Accursed  be  the  evil-doer  that  has  done 
it.  Is  it  you,  beggar  and  murderer?  [_She  shakes  her 
fist  at  Charaduiia.~\ 

CHARADUTTA  [as  if  stuTinecf] 
Dead!  dead!     Vasantasena  dead! 

PROVOST 

Do  you  hear  what  he  says?  He  does  not  know  what 
he  is  saying. 

JUDGE 

Charadutta,  you  are  accused  by  the  Prince  Sams- 
thanaka  of  the  murder  of  Vasantasena:  have  you  any 
defence  to  make? 

[1811 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHAKADUTTA 

Dead!  and  I  might  have  saved  her. 

RECORDER 

He  means  he  might  have  repented  in  time. 

JUDGE 

Answer  me:  have  you  any  defence  to  make? 

CHARADUTTA 

None. 

JUDGE 

Where  were  you  at  the  time  of  the  murder? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  cannot  tell  you. 

JUDGE 

Do  you  then  plead  guilty? 

CHARADUTTA 

No. 

JUDGE   [to   SAMSTHANAEa] 

WTiy  do  you  accuse  Charadutta?    What  proof  have 
you  of  your  accusation? 

samsthanaka 

My   lord,   what   proof  can  there  be  but  one?    The 
jewels  of  Vasantasena! 

JUDGE 

If  they  had  been  found,  but  they  have  not  been  found. 
[182] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

They  have  not  been  sought  for.  Where  should  they 
be  but  in  the  house  of  Charadutta?  Send  officers, 
my  lords,  to  the  house  of  Charadutta;  see  whether 
the  jewels  that  Vasantasena  was  accustomed  to  wear 
are  not  to  be  found  there.  Those  jewels,  if  they  are 
found  in  that  impoverished  house,  will  speak  the 
truth  louder  than  I,  they  will  at  once  prove  the  crime 
and  show  the  reason  of  the  crime. 

CHARADUTTA 

Let  my  guilt  rest  on  this  question.  Search  my  house, 
and  if  a  single  jewel  of  Vasantasena  is  found  there, 
let  me  be  held  guilty  of  a  viler  thing  than  murder. 

JUDGE 

Go,  let  the  house  be  searched.  [^Officers  go  out. 2 
Again,  Charadutta,  it  is  for  your  sake  that  I  search 
fully  into  the  matter.  Innocence  fears  no  exposure, 
and  though  the  evidence  so  far  is  against  you  I  do  not 
doubt  that  this  last  accusation  will  turn  to  your  favour. 

CHARADUTTA 

How  can  I  care  any  longer  if  I  am  found  guilty  or 
innocent  if  Vasantasena  is  really  dead? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

It  is  the  hypocrite  who  speaks.  Wait,  you  wull  see  the 
hypocrite  confounded,  the  robber  disclosed,  the  mur- 
derer convicted. 

[183] 


THE  TOY  CART 


RAMBHA 


This  is  a  matter,  my  lords,  in  which  it  would  be  well 
for  you  to  call  me  as  a  witness. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Do  not  listen  to  her;  what  has  she  to  do  with  this 
matter?  This  is  a  fact  to  be  made  evident;  not  an 
argument  to  be  decided. 

JUDGE 

Charadutta,  do  you  desire  the  evidence  of  Vasan- 
tasena's  mother? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  need  no  evidence.     I  await  the  test. 

RAMBHA 

Very  well,  my  good  sir.  I  have  no  wish  to  press  into 
the  company  of  my  betters,  whether  it  be  to  do  good 
to  them  or  to  do  harm  to  them.  I  am  sure  it  is  Prince 
Samsthanaka  who  knows  all  about  it,  and  what  he 
finds  out  will  be  sure  to  be  the  truth.  [S/ie  looks 
imjmdently  at  samsthanaka.] 

JUDGE 

Has  the  officer  returned  from  the  house  of  Charadutta? 
An  OFFICER  carrying  the  toy  cart  containing  the 
jewels  of  VASANTASENA  comes  forward,  followed  by 
maitreya  in  great  agitation,  maitreya  thrusts 
himself  forward. 

maitreya 
Friend,  peace  be  with  you! 

[184] 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHARADUTTA 

Perhaps  I  shall  find  it  again. 

MAITREYA 

What  is  this?  Why  are  you  here?  Why  have  these 
men  forced  their  way  into  your  house? 

JUDGE 

Be  silent  there,  and  let  the  officer  come  forward  and 
deliver  his  report. 

OFFICER 

My  lords,  I  went  to  the  house  of  Charadutta,  and  this 
man  offered  violent  resistance  to  my  entry.  I  went  in, 
and  had  not  searched  long  before  I  found,  thrust  aside 
into  a  corner  as  if  to  escape  observation,  a  child's 
toy  cart  filled  with  jewels.  It  is  here.  [He  hands  it 
to  the  judge.'] 

JUDGE 

What  is  this,  Charadutta? 


CHARADUTTA 

Either  I  am  bewitched  .  .  . 

JUDGE  [to  rambha] 

Are  these  the  jewels  of  your  daughter? 

samsthanaka  gets  up  and  goes  down  as  if  to  examine 
them. 

rambha 

I  must  see  them  closely:    give  them  into  my  hands; 
my  eyes  are  old. 

[185] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA  [^significantly'] 
Tell  the  truth. 

JUDGE 

Are  these  ornaments  your  daughter's? 

RAMBHA  Ijpeering  into  them] 

They  are  very  hke,  I  would  not  be  saying  they  are  the 
same. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Fifty  suvarnas  if  you  tell  the  truth. 

PROVOST 

Surely  you  will  know  them  if  they  are  your  daughter's? 

RAMBHA   [to   SAMSTHANAELA] 

I  want  a  hundred.  Well,  well,  it  is  difficult  to  trust 
one's  eyes,  what  with  these  cunning  workmen.  They 
are  very  like. 

SAMSTHANAKA    [uside]  ^ 

A  hundred  then. 

JUDGE 

You  cannot  declare  on  oath  that  they  are  not  your 
daughter's? 

RAMBHA 

My  lord,  I  have  no  doubt  about  them  now.  I  have 
recognized  them  by  a  secret  sign.  They  are  my 
daughter's. 

JUDGE    [to   CHARADUTTA] 

Does  she  speak  the  truth? 

CHARADUTTA 

Yes. 

[186] 


THE  TOY  CART 

JUDGE 

How  have  they  come  into  your  possession? 

CHARADUTTA 

I  do  not  know.     Some  enemy  has  done  this. 

JUDGE 

Again  you  will  not  answer  me. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  have  nothing  to  answer.  The  gods  are  in  league 
against  me.  \^He  looks  wildly  round  him  and  says  as 
if  speaking  to  himself:^  I  seem  to  be  dreaming,  and  yet 
I  am  awake,  and  you  are  the  judge,  and  you  are  de- 
bating about  my  life,  and  Vasantasena  is  dead,  and 
yet  I  cannot  awaken. 

JUDGE 

OjQBcer,  remove  him  from  his  seat. 

OFFICER  takes  his  seat  from  chakadutta. 

CHARADUTTA 

Do  you  see,  Maitreya.''  I  must  not  sit  down  before 
these  lords  or,  if  I  do,  only  in  the  dust.  But  what 
does  it  matter.'^ 

MAiTREYA  {^pointing  to  samsthanaka] 
There  is  the  enemy  who  has  done  this! 

SAMSTHANAKA  {laughing  scornfully'] 
Little  Brahmin,  have  a  care.     Your  virtuous  friend 
there  has  killed  Vasantasena  and  robbed  her  of  her 
jewels,  and  if  you  are  not  careful  I  will  have  you 
arrested  for  helping  him  in  the  matter. 

[  187  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

MAITREYA 

Son  of  an  adultress,  monkey  tricked  out  with  gold, 
stuffed  stock  of  vices,  it  is  you,  you,  who  dare  to 
accuse  this  man  who  has  never  plucked  a  flower  roughly 
from  its  stalk  —  you  accuse  him  of  a  crime  more 
hateful  than  has  ever  been  seen  in  this  world!  I  will 
break  your  head  into  a  thousand  pieces  with  this 
staff,  as  knotty  and  crooked  as  your  own  heart!  If 
I  could  only  say  what  I  know! 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Listen,  my  lords,  to  this  suspicious  violence.  They 
are  in  league  together. 

CHAEADUTTA 

Maitreya,  my  friend,  be  silent.     For  my  sake. 

JUDGE 

Stay,  let  your  inconsiderate  friend  give  witness  on 
your  behalf.  I  see  only  one  chance  for  you.  Sir, 
you  seem  by  your  language  to  be  an  intimate  friend 
of  Charadutta? 

MAITREYA 

I  am  his  slave:   he  is  my  benefactor. 

JUDGE 

Well  and  good.  And  you  are  frequently  in  his  com- 
pany? 

MAITREYA 

He  is  rarely  out  of  my  sight. 

[188  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

JUDGE 

Were  you  with  Charadutta  at  noon  to-day? 

MAITREYA 

Yes  —  no. 

CHARADUTTA  looks  at  him  fixedly,  and  slightly  raises 
his  hand. 

JUDGE 

You  were  not? 

MAITREYA 

No. 

JUDGE 

Where  was  Charadutta  at  that  hour? 

CHARADUTTA  looks  at  him  more  fixedly. 

MAITREYA   [_slowly^ 

I  do  not  know. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Judge,  pass  sentence.     Is  there  further  cause  for  delay? 

JUDGE  [^speaks  aside  ivith  provost  and  recorder, 
then  rises^ 
Charadutta,  it  rests  now  only  with  you  to  confess  the 
crime  which  has  been  proved  against  you.  The  evi- 
dence is  complete,  the  charge  has  been  substantiated 
on  every  point,  and  you  can  give  no  account  of  your- 
self at  the  time  when  the  murder  must  have  been 
committed.  That  which  has  seemed  to  our  minds 
incredible,  has  none  the  less  been  proved  to  the  con- 
viction of  our  minds.  It  is  better,  at  the  last  moment, 
to  admit  the  truth,  rather  than  to  add  falsehood  to 
dishonour.  Charadutta,  are  you  guilty  of  the  murder 
of  Vasantasena? 

[189  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHARADUTTA 

I  am  of  a  race  incapable  of  crime.  But  what  is  it  to 
me  if  I  am  innocent  and  a  crime  is  imputed  to  me  which 
I  cannot  gainsay?  If  Vasantasena  is  dead,  of  what 
use  is  life  to  me?  Have  your  way.  What  is  it  I 
am  to  say  after  you? 

SAMSTHANAKA 

That  you  killed  Vasantasena:  say  that  you  killed  her. 


You  have  said  it. 


Sentence,  my  lord. 


CHARADUTTA 


SAMSTHANAKA. 


JUDGE 


Charadutta,  you  have  confessed  that  you  are  guilty 
of  the  murder  of  Vasantasena.  This  is  your  sentence: 
the  ornaments  of  Vasantasena  be  hung  about  your  neck, 
and  that  you  be  conducted  by  beat  of  drum  to  the 
place  of  execution  in  the  southern  cemetery,  and  that 
you  be  there  beheaded  by  the  public  executioner,  and 
your  body  impaled  upon  a  stake  for  a  warning  to  all 
malefactors  in  the  kingdom  of  our  supreme  lord  and 
king. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Let  the  king's  justice  be  done. 

CHARADUTTA 

Let  the  justice  of  the  gods  be  done. 

The  curtain  jails  as  the  officers  lay  hold  on  chara- 
dutta. 

[190] 


THE  TOY  CART 


ACT  V 

A  place  of  execution,  an  open  space  at  the  cross-roads, 
by  the  side  of  the  public  cemetery.     A  crowd  is  assembled. 

FIRST    BYSTANDER 

Are  they  nearly  here? 

SECOND   BYSTANDER 

Nearly.  The  Chandalas  are  leading  Charadutta  by 
way  of  the  four  stations,  and  at  each  station  they  read 
the  proclamation.  He  must  be  nearer  now  to  the 
fourth  than  to  the  third. 

FIRST    BYSTANDER 

What  a  pilgrimage!  The  shame  will  be  more  to  him 
than  death  itself.  He  was  the  proudest  man  in  the 
city. 

SECOND   BYSTANDER 

Do  you  believe  he  is  really  guilty? 

FIRST   BYSTANDER 

How  is  it  possible  either  to  doubt  or  believe  it? 

THIRD   BYSTANDER 

I  salute  you,  neighbours.  Are  you  here  for  the  cere- 
mony? They  tell  me  it  is  not  the  only  one.  Is  it 
true  that  Aryaka  has  escaped? 

[191] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SECOND   BYSTANDER 

It  is  perfectly  true.  He  has  got  through  the  gates, 
nobody  knows  how.     They  flock  to  him  from  all  sides. 

THIRD   BYSTANDER 

Do  you  think  anyone  here  would  be  averse  to  a  change 
of  dynasty? 

FIRST    BYSTANDER 

Hush!  it  is  better  to  wait  and  accept  whatever  comes 
to  pass.  Perhaps  Charadutta  will  be  the  last  victim 
of  Palaka. 

SECOND    BYSTANDER 

Is  he  not  a  friend  of  Aryaka? 

THIRD    BYSTANT)ER 

Would  that  Aryaka  were  here  to  help  him. 

FOURTH   BYSTANDER 

They  are  coming,  they  are  coming. 

A    CHILD 

Lift  me  up,  father.  I  want  to  see  them.  The  man 
is  hung  all  over  with  garlands.  Are  they  going  to 
offer  him  up  to  the  gods? 

FOURTH    BYSTANDER 

Yes,  my  son. 

CHILD 

But  I  do  not  see  any  priests,  \^^ly  does  he  carry 
a  sharp  stake  over  his  shoulder! 

[192] 


THE  TOY   CART 

FOURTH   BYSTANDER 

You  will  see  presently.  Get  down  now,  and  wait  till 
the  Chandalas  stop  here.  This  is  the  best  place  for 
seeing. 

FIRST    BYSTANDER 

Is  this  the  face  of  a  criminal.^  He  steps  as  noble  as  a 
beast  led  to  the  sacrifice.  But  it  is  a  sacrifice  that 
will  not  please  the  gods. 

CHARADUTTA  appears  between  the  two  chandalas, 
garlanded  ivith  flowers,  like  a  beast  led  to  the  sacrifice, 
.  and  with  the  jewels  of  vasantasena  tied  round  his 
neck.  He  bears  on  his  shoulder  the  stake  with  which 
he  is  to  be  impaled.  His  clothes  are  covered  with 
dust;  his  face  is  pale  and  weary. 

first  chandala 

Out  of  the  way,  sirs,  out  of  the  way  for  Charadutta, 
all  good  people  who  stand  about  here  to  see  a  man's 
procession  on  his  way  to  death.  Make  way  for  the 
executioners  of  the  king,  the  doers  of  justice  by  be- 
heading of  living  and  impaling  of  dead  men.  This  is 
Charadutta,  who  bears  the  stake  and  the  garland; 
he  goes  now  on  his  way  to  death  as  a  lamp  goes  out 
when  it  has  not  been  replenished  with  oil. 

charadutta 

What  are  these  crows,  good  Chandala,  and  why  are 
they  croaking  about  this  place? 

second  chandala 

They  are  before  their  time,  sir;  they  wait  on  you. 
Stand  out  of  the  way  there,  what  is  there  for  you  to 

[193  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

see  but  a  tree  that  is  to  be  cut  down,  a  good  man  that 
is  to  be  cut  short  by  the  axe  of  fate? 


CHARADUTTA 

The  people  look  kindly  on  me;  I  am  at  least  not 
shamed  before  their  kind  hearts,  though  I  stand  here 
like  an  ox  to  be  slaughtered;  they  cannot  help  me  in 
this  life,  but  I  can  see  that  they  pray  that  my  fortune 
in  my  next  life  may  be  better  than  it  has  been  in  this. 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

Out  of  the  way,  sirs,  back;  what  do  you  want  to  see? 
There  are  four  things  not  to  be  looked  at:  Indra  when 
he  bends  his  bow,  a  cow  when  she  gives  birth  to  her 
calf,  a  shooting  star,  and  a  good  man  when  he  is  leaving 
this  life.  But  look  you,  brother,  a  hint,  the  whole 
city  is  under  sentence;  can  the  sky  weep  without 
a  cloud? 

SECOND    CHAXDALA 

No,  brother  Goha,  the  sky  cannot  weep  without  a 
cloud,  but  this  cloud  is  a  cloud  of  women-folk,  and  the 
rain  falls  from  their  eyes,  and  cannot  so  much  as  lay 
the  dust. 

CHARADUTTA 

"VVTiy  do  all  these  pity  me  and  cry,  Alas!  poor  Chara- 
dutta?     I  am  to  die,  and  not  one  of  them  can  help  me. 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

Let  all  men  hear  the  proclamation  of  the  king.     First, 
let  the  drum  be  beaten.     The  drum  is  beaten. 
And  now  hear,  all  of  ye.     This  is  Charadutta,  the  son 
of  Sagaradatta,  the  son  of  the  Provost  Vinayaddatta, 

[194] 


THE  TOY  CART 

by  whom  Vasantasena  the  courtesan  has  been  robbed 
and  murdered.  The  spoil  has  been  found  in  his  hands, 
and  he  has  confessed  his  crime  with  his  own  mouth. 
He  has  been  convicted  and  condemned  to  death  in 
the  name  of  King  Palaka;  so  will  the  king  punish  all 
malefactors  accursed  in  this  life  and  the  next. 

CHARADUTTA 

O  Chandalas,  how  is  it  that  your  hands  defile  a  name 
that  has  been  made  sacred  to  the  gods,  age  after  age, 
by  priests  about  a  sacred  fire?  But  now,  my  friends, 
turn  from  me;  they  hide  their  faces  in  their  cloaks. 
Once  every  stranger  desired  to  be  my  friend ! 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

Every  man  loves  him  that  is  in  prosperity,  and  him 
that  is  in  adversity  he  forsakes.  Does  this  surprise 
you,  and  yet  you  are  a  wise  man.'' 

CHARADUTTA 

O  Maitreya,  why  does  not  my  one  friend  come  to  fulfil 
my  last  wishes ! 

SECOND    CHANDALA 

Are  you  ready,  sir,  and  if  you  are  ready  will  you  come 
a  little  further  along? 

VOICES  [behind  the  scenes^ 
Father!  father!  Charadutta! 

CHARADUTTA 

Chandalas,  will  you  grant  me  one  favour? 
[195  1 


THE  TOY   CART 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

What !  will  you  take  a  favour  from  us? 

CHARADUTTA 

You  are  of  the  caste  of  the  Chandalas,  but  you  are 
gentler  than  the  kmg,  who  is  a  Brahmin.  Hear  me, 
good  friends.  Let  me  see  the  face  of  my  child  before 
I  die. 

THE  VOICE  [withirf\ 
Father! 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

It  shall  be  done.  Make  way  there:  let  him  pass. 
This  way,  sir. 

MAiTREYA  makes  his  way  through  the  crowd,  leading 

ROHASENA. 

MAITREYA 

Quick,  child,  quick,  or  your  father  will  be  dead  before 
we  come  to  him. 

ROHASENA 

Father!  father! 

CHARADUTTA 

My  son!  Alas,  child,  wiU  you  leave  me  as  thirsty  in 
the  other  world  as  I  am  now?  Such  little  hands  as 
yours,  what  food  and  drink  can  they  offer  upon  my 
grave? 

M.\ITREYA 

Friend,  is  it  too  late  to  speak  now?  Let  me  speak, 
tell  all,  and  save  you. 

CHARADUTTA 

These  Chandalas  can  take  my  life:  would  you  take 
my  honour? 

[196] 


THE  TOY  CART 

ROHASENA 

Where  are  you  taking  my  father,  you  wicked  Chan- 
dalas? 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Hark,  ye,  my  boy,  they  who  are  born  Chandalas  are 
not  the  only  ones.  There  are  Chandalas  who  do  evil 
to  good  men. 

ROHASENA 

Then  why  are  you  killing  my  father? 

SECOND    CHANDALA 

It  is  the  king's  order;  it  is  his  fault,  not  ours. 

ROHASENA 

Kill  me  and  let  my  father  go. 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

A  long  life  to  you,  my  brave  child. 

CHARADUTTA 

The  essence  of  the  world  is  mine:  such  treasure  be- 
longs  to  the  poor  man  as  well  as  to  the  rich.  I  have 
one  friend,  and  in  him  I  shall  live  twice  over. 

MAITREYA 

One    friend    indeed:     here's    another.     Pray,    master 
Chandalas,  one  body  is  as  good  as  another  to  your 
trade:  let  my  friend's  go:  you  can  have  mme. 
[197] 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHARADUTTA 

What  have  I  said?  I  thought  adversity  left  a  man 
without  a  friend,  aud  here  are  two  of  them ! 

FIRST    CIIANDALA 

Now  then,  stand  back,  all  of  you.  What  do  you  want 
to  see  now?  A  good  man  who  has  fallen  into  darkness, 
like  a  bucket  of  gold  wlien  the  rope  is  broken  and  it 
falls  into  tlie  well ! 

CHARADUTTA 

They  are  going  to  beat  the  drum:  it  tells  the  time 
when  I  am  to  die.  O  child,  if  I  had  but  something  to 
leave  you!  I  have  only  the  cord  of  the  Brahmin,  and 
I  will  take  it  from  my  shoulder  and  put  it  over  yours. 
It  is  not  made  of  gold  or  jewels,  but  a  Brahmin  who 
wears  the  cord  is  the  mate  of  the  gods  and  can  talk 
with  them  face  to  face. 

ROHASENA  [pointing  to  the  jewels  round 
charadutta's  neck'] 

Father,  give  me  back  my  jewels. 

CHARADUTTA 

They  are  not  yours,  dear  child,  and  they  are  not  mine. 
I  cannot  give  them  to  you. 

ROHASENA 

But  yes,  they  are  mine,  a  lady  gave  them  to  me. 

CHARADUTTA 

What  lady? 

[198] 


THE  TOY  CART 

ROHASENA 

I  don't  know,  a  beautiful  lady.  She  put  them  into 
my  toy  cart  because  it  wasn't  the  gold  one. 

MAITREYA 

What  is  this!  Tell  me  all  about  it,  child!  Quick! 
you  shall  be  cleared  of  this  charge  after  all,  Chara- 
dutta ! 

ROHASENA  [cnjing^ 

I  don't  know,  I  don't  know. 

CHARADUTTA 

My  friend,  I  begin  to  understand  something  of  this 
mystery,  but  it  is  too  late  to  matter,  and  now  it  only 
adds  to  my  misery.  Was  not  this,  which  has  been 
part  of  the  noose  of  fate  in  snaring  me,  but  some 
lovely  secret  deed  of  Vasantasena,  and  Vasantasena  is 
dead,  and  what  does  it  all  matter  now?  Say  nothing, 
Maitreya,  death  is  welcome,  and  now  it  will  come  with 
more  sweetness. 

The  drum  is  beaten  on  a  sign  from  the  chandalas, 
and  they  come  nearer  to  charadutta,  who  is  about 
to  say  farewell  to  his  son.  At  the  sound  of  the  drum 
a  passage  is  suddenly  opened  in  the  croicd,  and 
armed  men  come  forivard,  followed  by  samsthanaka. 
They  fall  back;   he  comes  insolently  forward. 

samsthanaka 

Why  do  you  beat  the  death-drum  before  I  am  ready 

to  look  on  my  enemy  dying?     I  was  feasting  in  my 

palace,  when  I  heard  your  voices,  Chandalas,  as  harsh 

[199  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

as  a  cracked  bell,  and  the  first  beat  of  the  death- 
drum.  But  the  destruction  of  an  enemy  is  a  better 
feast  than  has  ever  been  served  in  any  palace.  What 
a  crowd  has  come  together,  and  merely  to  see  this 
man  die !  If  so  many  flock  together  to  see  this  beggar 
die,  how  great  a  concourse  would  there  be  if  it  were 
a  great  personage,  like  myself,  that  was  to  be  put  to 
death.  He  is  decked  out  for  the  slaughter  like  a 
young  bull,  he  is  turned  to  the  south  to  die.  But  why 
is  not  the  proclamation  said  over  again?  I  would  have 
it  said  over  and  over  again,  until  everybody  has  heard 
it.  I  would  have  Charadutta  say  it  over  with  his  own 
mouth.  Chandalas,  why  have  you  delayed  the  exe- 
cution so  long.^ 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

My  lord,  we  cannot  both  delay  and  hasten.  If  you 
would  be  quicker  than  we,  that  do  but  our  trade  by 
rote,  why,  sir,  do  it  yourself.  Will  you  have  my  axe, 
or  my  fellow's?  \^He  lifts  the  axe  high  in  the  air.  sams- 
THANAKA  stcps  back  hurriedly  J] 

ROHASENA   [tO   SAMSTHANAKA] 

Kill  me  and  let  my  father  go. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Put  down  your  axe,  down,  edge  to  the  earth,  not  that 
way.     Who  is  the  child? 

SECOND    CHANDALA 

He  is  the  son  of  Charadutta. 
[200  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Kill  them  both. 

CHARADUTTA 

Go  home,  my  child.  Who  knows  what  this  madman 
will  do?  Maitreya,  take  him  with  you  into  safety. 
He  must  live,  and  not  be  dishonoured  by  my  shame. 

MAITREYA 

0  my  friend,  do  you  think  that  I  mean  to  outlive  you.'' 

CHARADUTTA 

Friend,  you  are  alive,  and  no  power  forbids  you  to 
live.  Do  not  cast  away  what  is  not  yours  to  give  or 
take. 

MAITREYA 

1  will  put  the  child  into  a  place  of  safety,  and  then, 
then  I  will  come  back  and  share  your  fate.  [_He  falls 
at  charadutta's  feet,  embraces  him,  and  is  going  to  lead 
away  the  child.^ 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Stop!  I  said,  kill  them  both,  father  and  son. 
CHARADUTTA  lifts  his  hands  in  terror. 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

The  king's  orders  concerned  the  father,  not  the  son. 
We  carry  out  our  orders.     Off  with  you,  boy! 

They  thrust  maitreya  and  rohasena  away  into 

the  crowd. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

As  you  will,     I  am  concerned  only  to  do  justice.     But, 

as  many  here  present  look  as  if  they  do  not  believe 

[201] 


THE  TOY  CART 

that  this  crime  was  committed  by  Charadutta,  I  call 
upon  him,  as  he  is  an  honest  man,  to  say  now  before 
them  all:  I,  Charadutta,  killed  Vasantasena.  He  will 
not  speak.  Strike  him,  Chandalas,  as  if  he  were  a 
drum,  with  your  drum-sticks. 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Are  you  not  going  to  speak,  Charadutta? 

CHARADUTTA 

Strike,  if  you  will.  Your  axe  wUl  strike  harder 
presently.  I  am  afraid  neither  of  you  nor  of  death; 
only  of  one  thing:  that  this  thing  may  be  remembered 
against  me,  and  it  may  be  said  that  I  killed  the  woman 
whom  I  loved. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Confess,  confess.     Speak  the  truth  at  last' 

CHARADUTTA 

WTiat  shall  I  say  that  I  may  have  peace  in  my  death? 
That  I  am  a  malefactor,  that  I  hated  this  woman,  and 
that  by  me  this  woman  .  .  .  Let  this  man  say  the 
rest. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Was  murdered. 

CHARADUTTA 

So  be  it. 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Come:  it  is  you  who  have  to  execute  the  prisoner. 

SECOND   CHANDALA 

No,  the  turn  is  yours. 

[202  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Let  us  reckon.  [They  begin  to  calculate  on  their  fingers  r\ 
Well,  if  it  is  my  turn  I  shall  be  in  no  hurry  about  it, 

SECOND    CHANDALA 

Why  so? 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

I  will  tell  you.  My  father,  when  about  to  depart 
this  life  to  a  better,  being  in  the  exercise  of  like  func- 
tions with  ours,  a  gentle-hearted  stemman;  my  father 
said  to  me:  Son,  when  you  have  a  heading  business 
in  hand,  go  about  it  cautiously,  deliberately,  do  nothing 
in  a  hurry.  And  why?  Because,  said  he,  some  good 
man  may  come  forward  and  pay  down  the  price  of  his 
head;  or  a  son  at  the  very  next  moment  of  time  be 
born  to  the  king,  and  a  general  pardon  proclaimed; 
or  an  elephant  may  break  loose,  and  the  prisoner  may 
get  clean  off  in  the  confusion;  or  (who  knows?)  there 
may  be  a  change  of  rulers,  and  everybody  in  prison 
be  set  at  liberty. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

A  change  of  rulers!  What  are  you  lingering  over, 
Chandalas?     To  your  work,  sirs. 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

Have  patience,  my  lord;  we  are  reckoning  which  of  us 
two  is  to  do  the  work. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Is  there  an  elephant  on  earth  more  slow-footed  than 
justice?  How  long  am  I  to  wait  on  your  pleasure? 
\_He  walks  up  and  down  impatiently.^ 

[203  1 


THE  TOY   CART 


FIRST   CHANDALA 


Noble  Charadutta,  we  but  do  our  duty,  and  duty  must 
be  done.  Before  you  kneel  down  at  this  block,  and 
after  asking  your  pardon,  is  there  anything  you  wish 
to  think  of  or  speak  out? 

CHARADUTTA 

If  virtue  prevail  in  the  world,  I  ask  of  the  gods  that 
my  fair  fame  may  some  day  be  restored  by  Vasan- 
tasena,  whether  from  heaven  above  or  on  this  earth. 
Now  do  your  duty. 

FIRST  CHANDALA 

Do  you  see  this  block? 

CHARADUTTA 

Too  weU. 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

Those  that  see  it  as  close  as  you  see  it  now  have  not 
much  longer  to  live,  [charadutta  recoils.2  Are  you 
afraid,  Charadutta? 

CHARADUTTA 

Of  dishonour,  not  of  death. 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Sir,  in  heaven  itself  the  sun  and  moon  are  not  free 
from  change  and  suffering:  how  should  we,  in  this 
lower  world,  escape  them?  One  man  rises  but  to 
fall,  another  falls  to  rise;  and  the  vesture  of  this 
carcase  is  at  one  time  laid  aside  and  taken  up  again 
at  another.     Lay  these  things  to  your  heart,  and  be 

[204  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

firm.  My  hand  also  shall  be  firm,  and  the  axe  shall 
fall  but  once.  Now  must  the  proclamation  be  made 
for  the  last  time.     Goha,  repeat  it. 

SECOND    CHANDALA 

This  is  Charadutta,  the  son  of  Sagaradatta,  the  son  of 
the  Provost  Vinayaddatta,  by  whom  Vasantasena  the 
courtesan  has  been  robbed  and  murdered.  The  spoil 
has  been  found  in  his  hands,  and  he  has  confessed  his 
crime  with  his  owti  mouth.  He  has  been  convicted 
and  condemned  to  death,  and  we  are  now  to  put  him 
to  death  in  the  name  of  King  Palaka:  so  will  the  king 
punish  all  malefactors,  accursed  in  this  life  and  in  the 
next. 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Kneel  down:   your  neck  so:   sir,  let  me  arrange  your 

last  comfort. 

He  sets  the  head  of  charadutta  carefully  on  the 
block.  There  has  been  a  movement  in  the  crowd, 
cries  of  "Make  way!"  and  the  mendicant  friar 
leading  vasantasena  by  the  hand  appears  suddenly 
through  the  crowd,  as  charadutta,  his  head  lying 
on  the  block  says: 

CHARADUTTA 

The  gods  are  mighty. 

MENDICANT 

Make  way  there,  good  people,  in  the  name  of  charity. 

Make  way ! 

The  FIRST  CHANDALA  kas  raised  his  axe;  at  the  stir 
in  the  crowd  the  second  chandala  arrests  his 
arms. 

[205  1 


THE  TOY  CART 

SECOND    CHANDALA 

Hold.     Someone  is  coming,  it  may  be  from  the  king. 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

I  see  only  a  begging  friar  and  a  dishevelled  woman. 

CRIES 

Make  way  there,  make  way! 

ciL\RADUTTA  \_from  the  hloclc] 

Good  Chandala,  I  have  composed  myself  for  death. 
Make  haste  to  end  this  waiting. 

VASANTASENA  {crying    from  the  crowd} 
Stop !  stop !  in  the  gods'  name,  stop ! 

FIRST    CHANDALA 

Who  is  this  woman  that  cries  and  runs  like  a  wounded 
beast. 5^ 

VASANTASENA 

Stop!  it  is  I.     It  is  I.     It  is  Vasantasena. 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Can  this  be  Vasantasena.'' 

SECOND   CHANDALA 

Charadutta  seems  to  say  so. 

ciiARADUTTA  Jias  risen  from  the  block,  and  stands 
swaying  helplessly,  vasantasena  runs  up  to  him 
and  puts  her  arms  round  him  as  if  to  support  him. 

[206  ] 


THE  TOY   CART 

VASANTASENA 

It  is  I,  it  is  Vasantasena.  Look  at  me.  I  am  not  too 
late? 

VOICES   IN   THE    CROWD 

It  is  Vasantasena! 

CHARADUTTA 

Are  you  alive  or  dead,  Vasantasena? 

VASANTASENA 

I  am  alive.  But  you,  but  you?  I  have  run,  I  have 
run,  to  save  you. 

VOICES   IN   THE   CROWD 

It  is  a  miracle.     Vasantasena  is  alive. 

CHARADUTTA 

I  think  we  have  both  died,  but  you  have  brought  me 
to  life  again. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

If  the  dead  come  to  life,  where  shall  I  hide  from  the 
sight  of  them?  And  if  she  be  not  dead,  where  shall 
I  hide  from  the  sight  of  justice?  [He  turns  to  go. 
The  CHANDALAS  lay  hold  of  him.^ 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Sir,  you  are  to  remain  here. 

SAMSTHANAKA 

This  to  me,  hound?     Let  me  go. 
[207] 


THE  TOY   CART 

SECOND   CHANDALA 

Our  orders  are  from  the  king,  and  if  this  woman  has 
come  back  from  the  dead,  it  is  you  that  must  say  who 
sent  her  there.     [They  lay  hold  of  hirn.^ 

VASANTASENA 

I  thought  I  had  died  for  you,  and  it  was  hard,  because 
I  loved  you  with  all  my  life;  and  is  there  any  love  in 
the  grave?     But  you  too,  would  you  have  died  for  me? 

CHARADUTTA 

Look,  Vasantasena!  are  not  these  garlands  woven  for 
my  death  more  like  bridal  garlands?  Cannot  the 
death-drums  play  marriage  music  as  well? 

VASANTASENA 

Let  me  die  again,  only  let  me  hear  those  words!  But 
what  is  it  they  have  done  to  you,  and  who  is  it  that  has 
sought  your  life? 

CHARADUTTA 

They  said  I  had  killed  you,  and  for  these  jewels,  which 
I  wear  now  for  punishment;   your  jewels. 

VASANTASENA 

Ah,  the  toy  cart! 

CHARADUTTA 

They  have  brought  me  through  anguish  to  this  joy. 

VASANTASENA  [turning  and  catching  sight  of  sams- 
THANAKA,  shrieks:~\ 
The  murderer ! 

[208] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA  [trying  to  fait  OH  his  knees2 
Forgive  me,  Vasantasena. 

The  CHANDALAS  hold  him  up  so  that  he  cannot  go 
doum  an  his  knees. 

FIRST   CHANDALA 

Stand  up,  sir,  like  a  man. 

Again  there  is  a  stir  in  the  crowd,  and  maitreya 
bursts  through,  almost  breathless. 

MAITREYA 

Charadutta,  you  will  be  saved!     I  have  come.  .  .  . 

[Stops  as  he  sees  vasantasena.] 

CHARADUTTA 

Vasantasena  has  already  saved  me. 

MAITREYA 

This  is  a  day  of  miracles.  But  hear,  and  not  you  alone, 
Charadutta,  hear,  all  of  you,  Chandalas,  guards,  people: 
Aryaka  is  king,  Palaka  is  killed,  Aryaka  reigns  in  his 
place !     Long  live  Aryaka ! 

Some  in   the  crowd  repeat  it,   others  look  at  one 
another  in  doubt. 

Glory  to  Siva,  glory  to  the  god  of  battles!  I  hold  the 
signet  ring  of  Palaka,  that  Aryaka  has  taken  off  his 
finger.  I  bring  it  from  Aryaka  to  Charadutta  that  he 
may  not  only  be  set  free  but  that  he  may  be  next  to 
Aryaka  in  his  kingdom. 

[209] 


THE  TOY  CART 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Alas!  woe  is  me,  my  brother-in-law  is  dead,  and  I  am 
myself  no  more  than  a  dead  man. 

MAITREYA 

Hold  him,  Chandalas,  in  the  name  of  Aryaka.  Guards 
of  Samsthanaka,  your  master  is  a  captive.  Aryaka 
will  be  your  master! 

GUARDS 

Long  live  Aryaka! 

CHARADUTTA 

O  Maitreya,  then  it  is  not  my  life  only  that  is  saved 
but  liberty  itself.     Let  us  give  thanks  to  the  gods. 

VOICES 

Long  live  Aryaka!     Long  live  Charadutta! 

CHARADUTTA 

And  now,  Vasantasena.  .  .  . 

VOICES 

Down  with  the  murderer!  Send  him  after  Palaka! 
He  would  have  killed  Charadutta! 

SAMSTHANAKA 

Charadutta,  save  me!  I  have  no  hope  but  in  you. 
\_Breaks  av^ay  from  the  Chandalas  and  grovels  before 
him.']     Save  me! 

[210] 


THE  TOY   CART 

VOICES 

Kill  him!  kill  him!     Give  him  to  us. 

VASANTASENA     [taking    the    garland    from     chara- 
dutta's  neck  and  throwing  it  over  samsthanaka'sJ 

Take  the  death-garland! 

samsthanaka 

I  die,  I  die.  I  kiss  your  feet,  most  noble  Charadutta, 
I  kiss  the  dust  before  your  feet.  Only  save  me  from 
death ! 

VOICES 

Give  him  to  us. 

charadutta 

Have  I  power  over  this  man.f* 

VOICES 

Yes,  yes. 

CHARADUTTA 

Will  you  do  with  him  in  everything  as  I  bid  you? 

VOICES 

Yes,  yes. 

CHARADUTTA 

Then  I  bid  you  with  all  due  haste.  ... 

VOICES 

To  kill  him. 

CHARADUTTA 

No,  to  set  him  free. 

VOICES 

Let  him  be  killed,  let  him  be  killed. 
[2111 


THE  TOY  CART 

CHARADUTTA 

Vasantasena,  why  is  he  to  be  set  free? 

VASANTASENA  [taking  the  garland  from  the  neck  of 
SAMSTHANAKA,  and  throwing  it  on  the  ground^ 
Samsthiinaka,  your  pimishment  shall  be  the  mercy  of 
Charadutta. 

CHARADUTTA 

Vasantasena  has  said  it.     Loose  him  and  let  him  go. 

SAMSTHANAKA    [jising'] 

Gods!  I  am  aUve  again.     [He  goes  out.^ 

MENDICANT 

After  all  I  did  well  to  help  a  woman,  though  it  is 
against  the  rules  of  my  order. 

VASANTASENA 

This  was  my  helper,  when  I  was  nearly  dead.  He  led 
me  into  safety. 

CHARADUTTA 

What  shall  we  do  for  this  good  friar? 

MENDICANT 

Give  me  leave  to  go  begging  about  the  world  in  the 
old  way:  my  masters,  save  me  and  your  own  selves 
from  the  misery  of  riches !     [He  goes  out.'} 

VOICES 

They  are  coming  this  way!  Aryaka  and  the  soldiers 
are  coming  this  way!     Let  us  go  and  see  them. 

All  run  out,  leaving  charadutta  alone  with  vasan- 
tasena and  MAITREYA. 

[212] 


THE  TOY  CART 


CHARADUTTA 


Shall  we  follow  these  children?  They  go  to  see  a  new 
thing,  having  forgotten  the  thing  now  past.  But  here 
is  a  man  and  woman  who  have  seen  death,  each  for 
the  sake  of  the  other;  and  only  by  life  can  death  be 
forgotten.  When  we  find  Aryaka  we  will  bid  him  to 
our  marriage-feast. 

VASANTASENA  [kissiug  his  hand} 
My  lord! 


CURTAIN 


[213] 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA.  LOS  ANGELES 

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